Re : EJS and @@!!@@

It looks like your template params are being sent to the .html() function instead of can.view(). jQuery's .html() ignores it, so I suspect the @@!!@@ might just be the result of rendering a template with no template data.

Instead of

1. this.element.html(can.view('filterView'), {
2.       contacts: this.options.contacts
3. });
   

You want something like

1. this.element.html(can.view('filterView', {
2.       contacts: this.options.contacts
3. }));