A significant piece of Fiji’s cultural heritage has returned home after more than a century overseas. The Fiji Museum has received a historic masi that had been in Canada for over 80 years, marking a key victory in the ongoing efforts to repatriate Fijian artifacts from international collections.
Museum records indicate that the masi was taken to Canada in 1903 by Edmund Tomkins, subsequently becoming part of the Chatham-Kent Museum’s collection in Ontario, where it resided from 1946 until its recent return. The formal handover of the artefact took place during a presentation led by Fiji’s Honorary Consul to Canada, Bobby Naicker. He emphasized the profound cultural significance of the masi for Fiji and the broader Pacific region.
Naicker noted that the repatriation process was complex, involving intricate customs and border regulations. Nonetheless, he affirmed that the effort was invaluable due to the artifact’s immense cultural importance. Fiji Museum spokesman Ratu Jone Balenaivalu echoed this sentiment, explaining that the return of the masi followed years of meticulous record-keeping and collaborative efforts between museums, ultimately allowing this repatriation to happen.
The Fiji Museum has been proactively engaging with various North American institutions as part of a deaccessioning process, which involves reviewing collections to identify and return items that originated from Fiji. The masi, catalogued in 1903, had been preserved in the Chatham-Kent Museum for decades before being approved for return.
Preliminary investigations into the patterns on the masi have indicated potential connections to Samoa, paving the way for further research to understand its exact origins and historical context. This return not only commemorates a pivotal moment in Fijian history but also fosters a greater appreciation of cultural heritage within the Pacific region. The successful repatriation reflects a growing commitment to acknowledging and rectifying historical injustices surrounding indigenous artifacts.
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