I've helped people install DIY hoists for ladder etc but the same principal works for a canoe.

  It can be a easy as what OS said, but for a few extra bucks you can get something that has a built in safety feature that locks the rope in place so you can't accidentally drop the canoe on the floor.
 
  If you had 8 ft ceilings and for some reason you let the rope go to soon. you could reach up and catch one end of the canoe to maybe the whole thing and either stop it or guide it down softly.

With 12 ft ceilings your probably going to hang it up 10 ft or so. It falls accidentally, that's much harder to catch/control.

This is rated the #1 hoist. For the price it's worth the look. Another thing is to make damn sure when you mount the brackets the screws are into the center of the joist/truss. If the trusses don't work out distance wise to where you want to mount the hoist, you would have to mount a 2x6 spanning 2 trusses and then install the bracket.

  You would be surprised how many people mount something from the ceiling think it was sturdy only to find they were not in the center of a truss and it all came crashing down.  :o :'( ;D

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