In the wake of two terror-related tragedies in a matter of days, many are asking what caused the two young men to target and kill Canadian soldiers.
For the parents of the assailants those questions are especially troubling.
Susan Bibeau made an attempt Thursday to explain the actions of her son, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, but couldn’t find the words.
"We have no explanation to offer. I am mad at our son, I don't understand and part of me wants to hate him at this time," she said in a written statement.
Few know that feeling better than Christianne Boudreau, whose son Damian Clairmont was killed when he went to Syria to join the so-called jihad.
“I don't think you ever get over it. You try and move on as best you can. You try to cope with it, but it always stays at the back of your mind. What could I have done different? It's parent guilt,” Boudreau said.
She’s been trying to work through that guilt by speaking out and sounding the alarm when it comes to homegrown radicals.
“Surveillance is not enough. They watched my son for two years but nobody came to me and said there's an issue. There's a problem. And you should be aware of this. Nobody gave me an opportunity to reach out and do an intervention with the family.
On October 8th the RCMP confirmed there were 90 individuals on the travel ban list.
“It's nothing that I think Canadians need to be alarmed about. I think we are managing through our collective efforts a response that is appropriate to the nature of these offences,” RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson said at the time.
Terrorism expert Amarnath Amarasingam has been following Canadian ISIS recruits.
“ISIS is a different entity and the new kind of form of jihad we're seeing even with the al-Qaeda groups is that they’re made up of Western young 20 year olds who are enormously computer savvy and know how to work the social media networks,” he said.
He says those who haven't been successful in making their way overseas are being taught to commit violence at home.
“The idea of a lone wolf or self-radicalized individual there's not a whole lot of evidence to support that kind of contention,” Amarasingam said.
Jocelyn Belanger, a psychologist at UQAM, says fighting violence with more violence isn't effective, and that understanding why people act out is the best way to stop them.
“The main motive for terrorists is to matter, to be important in the eyes of society. And when significance is lost people want to assuage this feeling by clinging to groups. Because groups provide prestige, resources and also very important feeling of belonging,” he explained.
Belanger says community members are crucial in helping those who adhere to radical branches of Islam, ones that threaten violence against others.
“We know there are de-radicalization programs in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines and Imams are able to convince people that have committed terrorist acts to refrain from engaging in political violence. And so it seems that we can fight fire with fire,” he said.
Christianne Boudreau says she's tried lobbying the Canadian government to start that kind of program.
Currently, no such programs exist in this country.
