It’s been nearly two decades since the amalgamation of the City of Toronto, and at long last the mystery of the Scarborough chain of office has been solved.

Five mayors were unchained in 1998 when the six municipalities that now form Toronto became one, as former North York mayor Mel Lastman became the first mayor of the new megacity.

The others were supposed to give back their symbolic medallions when the city set out to retrieve them.

But some mayors didn’t, and Toronto says it’s been unable to locate one in particular — until today.

“I know that my father tried to return the chain of office to the City of Toronto at amalgamation but they showed no interest in them,” said Jean-Paul Faubert, the son of Scarborough’s last mayor, Frank Faubert.

The elder Faubert, who was elected mayor in 1994, went on to become a Toronto city councillor for Scarborough following amalgamation. But he died the following year, leaving the chain in his family’s possession.

Although Scarborough is no longer a city of its own, the Faubert family is keeping the seal handy for Frank’s successor should that ever change.

“He told me that he was required, by tradition and law, to keep them and hand them over to ‘the next mayor of Scarborough’ at the inauguration ceremony,” Jean-Paul, who now lives in British Columbia, said in an email.

“As he was the last mayor, before he died my father gave them to us to keep safe. We are proud to have them as a symbol of my father’s service to the City of Scarborough.”

But city spokesperson Wynna Brown said the clerk’s office doesn’t know the chain’s whereabouts.

“At the time of amalgamation, city staff set out to locate all applicable chains and were unable to locate the Scarborough chain,” she said in an email. “I am advised by the clerk’s office that the location of the chain of office for the former City of Scarborough is unknown.”

Most of the other chains are being kept by the city as a remnant of the city’s pre-amalgamation era. Those of North York and Etobicoke can be found at the Toronto Archives, while the former City of Toronto’s is at the Market Gallery. York’s chain of office is on display at the community’s civic centre.

All except East York’s chain are accounted for.

The chain is owned by the East York Foundation, which was established in 1965 to preserve East York’s historical artifacts. But it too has been AWOL since amalgamation nearly 20 years ago.

It’s actually remained in the possession of Michael Prue, the borough’s final mayor, who went on to become a Toronto city councillor and a 13-year NDP MPP for East York.

Prue, who now lives in the Windsor area, says he plans to return the chain to Toronto next month, but not to the city itself.

“It’s theirs, it’s not mine,” Prue said. “When amalgamation happened, the borough of East York, and I was the mayor, we passed a motion giving all of our artifacts and everything to the East York Foundation so that Toronto would never get their hands on it.”

Prue recalled turning over the chain to the foundation the day before Toronto’s megacity was formed.

“The foundation had it for about a month or two and then they gave it back to me and said they didn’t have an appropriate place to keep it,” he said. “They were afraid it was going to be stolen. So I kept it at home all these years.”

But after moving to Amherstburg, Ont., a town about 25 kilometres south of Detroit, following his political career which ended in 2014, Prue said he felt it wasn’t right that he still had the East York relic.

He said he reached out to the foundation about giving back the chain and was told they’d let him know when they wanted it. Last week, the foundation contacted him requesting he return it.

It’ll be placed in a frame and displayed in the East York Civic Centre, said Ray White, chair of the East York Foundation.

“Michael was a well-respected director of the foundation and we were grateful that he agreed to be custodian of this important artifact,” White said in an email. “We are looking forward to the project to have this displayed in a public place as it is an important part of the East York community and history.”

The former mayor said he plans to return the symbol on May 3, when he will be in Toronto, during a formal presentation at the civic centre.