A Halifax man is making a public plea after an urn containing his mother’s ashes was stolen from his backyard in the city’s west end.

John-Paul LaFlamme says the urn was in the form of a sundial and was a tribute to his mother, Anne, who passed away after a battle with breast cancer at the age of 59.

“I feel like I’ve lost her again. She died 12 years ago and now her memorial is missing,” says LaFlamme. “It’s almost as bad as the day she died.”

He believes the urn was stolen sometime between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3.

“If somebody knew it was the remains of a loved one and they took it, if I found that out I’d be very angry, but I’m still hoping it was a prank gone wrong and they didn’t understand what it was,” says LaFlamme’s wife, Bev Butler.

“She was a very important person in my life because my family is not directly in Halifax, so she took on that role when John-Paul and I got together and became my other mother.”

The urn is waist-high and heavy, weighing roughly 20 kilograms. It is engraved with Anne’s date of birth and contains a quote from the Bible.

“She always loved to be in the garden, which is why I chose a sundial as an urn to put in the garden,” says LaFlamme. “She was a really easygoing person. Everybody loved her. There were a lot of people at the funeral.”

LaFlamme has reported the theft to police, but says he isn’t worried about charges. He just wants the urn returned.

“They can put it back where they found it and that would be it,” he says.

“I hope this message gets out to somebody who either took the urn or saw something and the urn will be replaced,” says Butler. “We need to have it back.”

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact police.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jayson Baxter