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“He’s definitely with some kind of jihadist group,” said the mother, who was angry that Canadian officials did not tell her until it was too late that her son was associating with extremists. If they had, she said, she might have been able to stop him.

“How are we as parents supposed to arm ourselves or have an idea what’s going on so we can stop as much as we can on our end if they’re not going to let us in on it,” she said. “Because that’s what happened to me. They knew all along, they were following my son for two years apparently and they didn’t tell me until three months after he had gone.”

Researchers believe that up to 100 Canadians may be fighting in Syria. Government officials will say only that there are dozens and that some have joined extremist factions, raising concerns they could stage attacks or radicalize others if and when they return to Canada.

In phone calls and Facebook chats from Syria, Mr. Clairmont, who also went by Mustafa Al-Gharib, rationalized his participation in the conflict in religious terms, saying he was working toward the afterlife.

“The benefit for myself in terms of the worldly life is most certainly back in Canada where I could see my family, indulge in fornication and infidelity legally and limitlessly and stagger around poisoned on intoxicants and then lie to myself and the world about ‘Freedom’ and how fantastic it is,” he wrote.

“After all that is what we were conditioned to believe since our school days, was it not?” he added. “Challenging those learned assumptions, questioning them and actually being willing to change yourself is always much harder to do. My doing so caused a search for truth and ended in a conclusion that Islam was the answer. With that came Islam’s concept of working for an afterlife that never ends. … An eternity in Paradise cannot be traded for 70 years (if that) of this place.”

After not hearing from Mr. Clairmont for several weeks, the Post sent a message to his Facebook page asking if he was a “shaheed,” Arabic for martyr.

“Still waiting,” he answered on Dec. 3.

He didn’t have to wait much longer.

National Post

• Email: sbell@nationalpost.com | Twitter: StewartBellNP