Drivers in Canada are reinforcing precautionary measures to protect their vehicles in the face of a significant increase the country has recently witnessed in car theft aimed at smuggling them abroad, in a "national crisis" where the Port of Montreal plays a central role and raises widespread concern among insurance companies.

In this largest city in Quebec, Zachary Sicilian's car was stolen without any sign of forced entry.

Sicilian told Agence France-Presse, "I used to park my car in the same spot, but it disappeared one day." Police explained to him that the operation was undoubtedly carried out using an electronic device that intercepts the key's frequency.

Since then, Zachary Sicilian has a new car, a "Mazda 3," but he decided to protect it using a tracking device.
He explains, "The insurance company we contracted with told us that the insurance premium would rise significantly if we didn’t have a tracker in the car."

Zachary Sicilian is not an isolated case at all, as major cities in Eastern Canada have witnessed a significant increase in car thefts for months, aiming to smuggle them to Africa, Asia, Europe, or the Middle East... where they are sold on the black market.

The latest police figures show that the two cities most affected by this problem are Montreal and Toronto, where thefts have increased by 150% over the past six years. From 2021 to 2023, car thefts rose by 58% in Quebec and 48% in Ontario, the most populous provinces in the country.

Ontario Provincial Police Detective Scott Weed told Agence France-Presse, "Technology makes life easier for drivers, but it also makes vehicle theft easier."

Experts believe that this significant increase in thefts is a direct result of the COVID pandemic, as the restrictions that accompanied this period limited the production capacity of car manufacturing companies.

With the global supply chains collapsing, "the supply was at its lowest" while there was "very high demand," as Yannick Demarre, from the Montreal Police, explained to Agence France-Presse.

This situation has whetted the appetite of organized crime gangs, as "it encouraged them to start supplying external markets," according to Scott Weed.

In 2023, the number of organized crime groups involved in car theft increased by 62% compared to the previous year, according to federal police.

The Canadian Insurance Bureau has classified this problem as a "national crisis." Private auto insurance companies in Canada paid CAD 1.5 billion (USD 1.09 billion) in claims related to car theft in 2023, an increase of 254% compared to 2018.

Yannick Demarre told Agence France-Presse that most "stolen vehicles in Canada are transported to Montreal and its strategically located port."

George Eny, director of the Automobile Driver Protection Association, explains that "Montreal serves as a gathering point" for stolen cars.

This port, located on the Saint Lawrence River overlooking the Atlantic coast, connects Eastern Canada and the industrial heart of North America with more than 140 countries. Over a million containers pass through it every year.

Canadian Border Services Agency's regional director for Quebec Annie Beauséjour explained to Agence France-Presse that "the challenge lies in intercepting a small percentage of illegal goods without harming our economy by slowing down the smoothness of trade operations."

The Justin Trudeau government, which organized a national summit on this issue a few weeks ago, promised to ban the importation of these hacking devices. It also announced a tightening of penalties for car thieves and the provision of more resources for the border agency.

In the meantime, in Toronto as in Montreal, groups are multiplying on social media to help each other and monitor stolen cars.

But in the comments, many unfortunate individuals whose cars were stolen urge not to hold out too much hope, as their vehicle may already be in a container headed abroad.