His truck was stolen — twice. Authorities knew where it was. But it still took 17 days to get it back
Tracking technology quickly found the truck. Authorities didn't move quite as fast
It didn't take long for a tracking company to find Michael Walker's truck after it was stolen from his Toronto driveway earlier this month.
But as a tracking company employee waited hours for police to arrive, it was taken again.
Tag Tracking zeroed in on its new location, a shipping container at a rail yard about 30 kilometres away.
Police were alerted again. Border officials were also contacted. But Walker's truck continued to sit in the container.
"I'm not very happy that someone can't get off their heinie and open the container that it's supposed to be in," he told CBC News last week while waiting for authorities.
Finally on Monday, after CBC reached out to police, CN and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), authorities opened the container, revealing Walker's 2023 Toyota Tacoma inside.
It had been 17 days since Walker reported his truck as stolen.
Auto thefts in the country, particularly in Ontario, have risen to "epidemic" levels, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, resulting in a wave of measures to get it under control.
The federal government has announced a summit to take place next month to address the problem. The Ontario government is spending $18 million on prevention efforts, and has also launched a task force aimed at disrupting the "networks responsible for high-risk auto thefts."
Auto insurance companies are pushing drivers to install tracking devices on their vehicles.
"You can track them all over the place, but if you don't have the police presence to reel them in, you're wasting money," Walker said. "What's the point?"
Walker said he believes if it hadn't been for his incessant efforts in contacting the various agencies and the inquiries made last week by CBC, his truck would still be sitting in an unopened container.
He wants to see more officers and more funding dedicated to the agencies involved in combating auto theft in the country.
"We're dealing with a system and it's failing," he said.
No police response after nearly 5 hours
Walker said when he bought his Tacoma six months ago, he did all he could to prevent it from becoming one of the thousands of vehicles being stolen in the Greater Toronto Area each year.
"I saved a long time ... knew it was shiny and pretty and I didn't want to get it stolen. So I got the Tag tracker," he said.
Tag, a private company, etches its logo into the vehicles' windows to deter thieves. It also installs tiny wireless tracking devices on the vehicles.
If a vehicle is reported stolen to Tag, it's instantly tracked and a Tag employee physically goes to find it, notifies police and waits for an officer to arrive.
In Walker's case, his Tacoma was stolen from his Etobicoke driveway sometime overnight on Jan. 11.
Tag tracked it to a parking lot about 15 kilometres away in Mississauga, where the truck was left — likely for a period of time to ensure it wasn't tracked — before being shipped overseas.
"The Tag officer called me and said, 'I have your truck, I'm looking at your truck. I'm just waiting for police,'" Walker said. "I thought, 'Great, this $1,000 investment paid for itself. I'm going to get my truck back.'"
But he didn't.
Tag confirmed an employee waited for nearly five hours, but before officers got there, the thieves returned. They took the truck from the lot while the employee called 911 again.
Peel Regional Police says the service strives to respond to calls as quickly as possible when stolen vehicles may have been tracked.
"All calls for service are triaged for their level of priority, in this case, a vehicle located without suspects present or injuries is not a priority response," acting Sgt. Tyler Bell said in a statement.
The next day, Tag tracked the truck to a shipping container at CN's MacMillan rail yard in Vaughan. Employees were able to locate the container and alert authorities.
Jurisdictional red tape
The CBSA says that, in most instances, it is responsible for examining a shipping container. When one is identified as containing a suspected stolen vehicle, a hold is put on it until a border officer can examine it.
"In certain circumstances, a police of jurisdiction may also conduct a search," said CBSA spokesperson Jacqeline Roby.
Bell said rail yards or ports of entry fall within federal jurisdictions, which requires local police "to work collaboratively with railway police and the CBSA."
"When it comes to retrieving the vehicles, police in any jurisdiction are required to seek judicial authorization to make entry into any place or thing in order to seize and recover the vehicle and or any evidence," he said.
Peel police wouldn't confirm whether it sought that authorization in Walker's case.
CN, which operates the rail yard, declined to answer questions about the situation.
In Walker's case, it took more than two weeks for CBSA officials to open the container and confirm his truck was inside.
CBSA would not comment specifically about Walker's case.
'Best auto thieves in the world'
According to Freddy Marcantonio, Tag's vice-president of business development and distribution, it's extremely rare for police to not get to a location in time after being alerted that a stolen vehicle has been located.
Since Tag's inception in 2010, it's recovered more than $100 million in stolen vehicles, he said.
Last year, the Montreal-based company recovered 400 stolen vehicles in Ontario and 375 in Quebec. It was the first time the company recovered more vehicles in Ontario than in Quebec.
Marcantonio said he believes the thieves are moving from Quebec to Ontario.
"We have the best auto thieves probably in the world," Marcantonio said of Montreal.
"What they've done is set up shop in Ontario through the CN and CP yards that lead them directly into the Montreal port. To them, [Ontario] is a candy store."
Stolen auto insurance claims topped $1B
In 2022, stolen vehicle insurance claims in Canada hit $1.2 billion, the first time the amount surpassed the $1-billion mark, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). Of the $700 million directly related to claims in Ontario, nearly three-quarters — about $500 million — comes from the Greater Toronto Area.
"Nationally, it's a crisis. In Ontario, it's an epidemic," said Amanda Dean, the IBC's vice-president for Ontario and the Atlantic region.
Data is not yet available for 2023.
Of the insurance premiums paid by Ontario drivers, about $130 from each goes toward settling stolen auto claims each year, the IBC says.
Dean said the rampant rise in thefts has prompted insurance companies to press drivers to install tracking devices. Some insurers will assess a surcharge of hundreds of dollars if the driver doesn't install a system.
When it comes to stories like Walker's, Dean said resources at all levels need to evolve, adding that it takes time for authorities to get processes in place since the issue of auto theft has exploded quickly.
"Certainly this is happening at a volume that it was not happening two or three years ago," she said.
Walker said he's hoping to get his truck back in two weeks at the earliest. Once investigators are done with it, it'll go back to the dealership for repairs since the thieves caused some damage.
He said he was told fixing the truck may take longer than usual due to shortages of some parts as a result of the high number of thefts.
Walker said he plans to get an immobilizer installed before he even takes it home.
"Maybe a different group of [thieves] will see it and I don't want to go through this again."
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