On Thursday, the RCMP held a news conference to finally confirm what most Canadians had known for several days. The two Canadians whose human remains had been identified among the terrorists killed in the final assault at the natural-gas plant in Algeria were Ali Medlej, 24, and Xristos Katsiroubas, 22.

The two men went to South Secondary School in London, Ont., along with a third friend, Aaron Yoon, 24. Medlej and Yoon both graduated, while Katsiroubas dropped out after completing Grade 11.

In 2007, Medlej and Katsiroubas travelled to Edmonton to look for work.

They had to be evicted from their rental apartment because they caused significant damage, including holes punched in the walls. It was there that Medlej and another man, Benjamin Caleb Thomas, were also arrested for shoplifting and fined.

That same year, a relative of Ali Medlej notified police, concerned that his nephew was hanging out with the wrong crowd. Shortly thereafter, CSIS agents interviewed friends and family of Medlej and Katsiroubas. Yoon, too, seems to have been on the security intelligence radar.

Five years later, in June 2012, the RCMP was asking questions about the three friends, but by then they had left Canada, along with a fourth man yet to be identified. Yoon ended up in jail in Mauritania; Medlej and Katsiroubas in Algeria.

At the Thursday news conference, Superintendent Marc Richer said that the RCMP is “seeking the assistance of the public” in an effort to learn more about what events led to Medlej and Katsiroubas leaving Canada.

The two men and their other friends were not under surveillance when they left Canada sometime last year. It seems that no one knows exactly when they left the country.

So was this a security failure?

In the U.K., two of the 2005 London bombers met with some people who were on MI5’s radar, but the security service made a decision not to investigate them further because they were deemed unimportant. They were seen as petty criminals, not a security threat. Unfortunately, MI5 failed to notify the police and they were never seen again until they blew themselves up in the London subway system.

In contrast, it appears that CSIS alerted the RCMP about the London, Ont., men at some point, since the RCMP did make inquiries in 2012. Why it took five years remains to be clarified however.

With the creation of “integrated national security enforcement teams” (INSETs), communication between the security service and the police is much better than it used to be. This contributed to the success in thwarting the Toronto 18 plot in 2006.

It is very difficult, however, to track everyone who might be a security threat. This is due in part to insufficient resources and in part to the difficulty of predicting who will move from simply being radical to being violent.

It also might have been expected that because Medlej had a run-in with the law in Edmonton, he would not have been able to get a passport. But according to a police source, Canadians with criminal records can still get passports and it is up to customs officials in their final destination to decide whether they can enter the country.

In exceptional cases, such as someone convicted of a terrorist offence, Passport Canada can refuse to issue a passport. However, this was not the case for Medlej or any of his companions.

The fact that the RCMP is asking the public for help means that a lot of questions remain unanswered. How did they finance their travel? Did someone point them toward North Africa?

What is clear, though, is that the RCMP is now being more open and trying to work with the public.

The fact that a relative contacted police in 2007 suggests that community outreach and trust-building efforts by the RCMP are working to some extent.

When interviewed by the media after the identities of the three men were revealed, fellow students and friends said they had noticed significant attitude and personality changes in Katsiroubas and Yoon.

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Also, Medlej apparently told a friend he was having trouble being a good Muslim and should martyr himself. Should these friends have reported this to authorities and, if so, what could have been done about it?

While communication is key, whether between different agencies, authorities and the public, or within communities, it is also important to recognize the limits of countering radicalization effectively within the confines of the law, due process and the protection of human rights and freedoms.

Ronald Crelinsten is adjunct professor at Royal Roads University and senior researcher in the Canadian Research Network on Terrorism, Security and Society.

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