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NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — Tina Martino handed the invoice to the receptionist at the DHL courier office and said, “I’m here to pick up a package.” Out the window an unexpected spring snow was coming down in the parking lot at the Hamilton airport cargo centre.

An employee came out 15 minutes later with a backpack. It was black and heavy. Martino signed for it. “Thank you very much,” she said. She carried it to the car and put it at her feet. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she said. “I just hope that it helps.”

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Martino is a Niagara Falls casino dealer. The backpack had belonged to her son, Nazzareno Tassone. He loved video games and guns. He had tried unsuccessfully to join the Canadian military and had instead begun working for CN in Edmonton. He had also gone through a painful breakup. Then last June he announced he was leaving for Iraq.

Photo by HO / Unknown CP

He had a job there teaching English, he told Martino. She gave him money for the plane ticket. Her son had dreamed of teaching in Japan and she thought the contract in Iraq might get him started on a new path.