When Carole Daoust woke up on Wednesday to find her car missing from the parking lot of her hotel in Montreal's West Island, she didn't think about the prescription sunglasses she'd have to replace or her favourite Birkenstock sandals or the half a kilogram of smoked meat she'd bought from a famous Montreal deli to take back to Toronto. 

She thought only of the urn in the trunk of her car — one that contained her mother's ashes — that was now gone. 

"I was in disbelief," said Daoust. "I mean those things are replaceable. This isn't replaceable. This is like a final goodbye."

Daoust, who was born and raised in Montreal but now lives in Toronto, had driven to the city with her sister to bury her mother's ashes next to her father in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery on Mount Royal. 

WATCH | Woman says all she wants are her mother's ashes back: 

She'd even gathered up all the love letters he'd written to her mother, along with her wedding bouquet, to be placed in the plot as requested by the 92-year-old matriarch, Winifred (Winnie) Aziz.

Aziz died in Toronto in 2021, during a time when COVID-19 limited visits to her seniors' residence. Gathering restrictions resulted in a pared-down funeral and a strike at the cemetery made it tough to get an appointment to lay her to rest. 

Daoust says this burial was supposed to finally bring her family closure, but she says it feels as though she's lost her mother all over again. All she cares about now is getting the ashes back. 

"The car is not important. Its contents are not important, those are all replaceable. Someone's remains, especially your mother's, are not replaceable," she said through tears. 

Daoust says she parked her car in the lot outside her hotel in the city of Pointe-Claire around 8 p.m Tuesday after returning from dinner with her sister. 

As the bag containing the urn with her mother's ashes was heavy, the sisters decided to leave it in the trunk of the car under a blanket, thinking it would be safe. 

"I even remarked to my sister, 'oh, look, there's a Tesla beside us. We're going to be fine here.' You know, who would take this thing?" Daoust said of her Toyota RAV4. 

But according to the hotel's security cameras, someone in a hoodie broke into and made off with the car at 3:40 a.m. Wednesday. 

The Montreal police service (SPVM) says it's not uncommon for thieves to target these types of vehicles. And this year, they're doing it more often. 

According to data provided by the SPVM, 6,190 vehicles have been reported stolen this year between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 — a 62 per cent increase from this time last year, when that number was 3,820. 

Honda CR-V, Ford's F-Series, and Toyota's Highlander are among the most popular models with thieves in Quebec.

Daoust's husband, Richard, says police told them that car thieves frequently remove the vehicle's internal tracking device and then park the car for a day or two on nearby streets to ensure there are no additional hidden trackers, before shipping the car overseas. He said police told them thieves usually don't even switch the licence plates.

Hoping that the car is still parked on a street in Montreal, the couple is appealing to Montrealers to keep an eye out for their silver 2020 Toyota Rav4 Limited with the Ontario licence plate CDNP 041. 

Not to get the car back, but so they can finally lay their loved one to rest. 

"Keep the car, have fun with the car, do whatever you want with it, but just return the ashes please," said Richard. 

Sabrina Jonas is a web reporter with CBC Montreal. She was previously based at CBC Toronto after graduating from Ryerson's School of Journalism. Sabrina has a particular interest in social justice issues and human interest stories. Drop her an email at sabrina.jonas@cbc.ca

Audience Relations, CBC P.O. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6

Toll-free (Canada only): 1-866-306-4636

It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.

Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem.