Vancouver police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for Mark Emile Trube. (Vancouver Police Department)

Vancouver police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for a man in connection with a suspicious package removed from his mother's home in East Vancouver Monday that contained an unknown explosive substance.

Several homes in the area were evacuated so police could set off two controlled explosions to deal with the package.

Mark Emile Trube, 37, is charged with two counts of uttering threats, one count of possessing explosives with intent to cause bodily harm, and one count of making or possessing explosives, police said in a news release Tuesday.

Trube is believed to be in the Lower Mainland and may be driving a black 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix with B.C. licence plate 964FLK, police said.

Trube is described as white, 6-foot-5 inches, 278 pounds, with brown eyes and short, thinning black hair.

Metal box in refrigerator

On Monday night, Trube's father Henry said he noticed something strange when was visiting the suspect's mother, who is the tenant in the upper suite at 2019 E. 45th Avenue.

"[I] open the fridge, get my milk out, my cereal, took the milk back to the fridge. That's when it hit me, when I saw a metal box with a big padlock on it in the fridge," he said.

"I don't know what was in it, but to me, nobody in their right mind puts a steel box in the fridge unless you want to hurt somebody or blow up the whole God damn house."

Vancouver police asked residents of an East Vancouver neighbourhood to leave on Monday in order to deal with a suspicious package. (CBC)

Henry Trube said he alerted his wife and she phoned 911.

A police explosives team evacuated several area homes for about eight hours.

"They took the next step, and took the package out, and set a charge and detonated it so that it was safe to handle," said spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness.

The package did contain an explosive substance but investigators have not yet identified what it was, she said.

No one was injured, but the windows of the house were damaged by the explosions.