Landis Burr, Bachelor of Arts graduate, Anthropology
“Honestly I’ve tried to distance myself from American politics recently ‘cause I just find it so frustrating. And I am just trying to look at positives in Canada rather than focusing on all that craziness…It makes it kind of a farce. It just seems really ridiculous. It makes me not want to go into the States too much.”
Tony Ebbs-Canavan and Shannon Gordon, fourth-year Psychology students
Shannon: “I was nervous. I have four children that are American, and I’ve lived down there. I kinda get that people get sorta sucked into stuff, I guess . . . A little disappointed, a little scared.”
Tony: “I have confidence in America, and they’re gonna do the right thing. Trump has a lot of advisors behind him. He’s not gonna be able to build a wall just like that. He’s gonna have a lot of people behind him saying we can’t do that. I’m confident that they’re gonna make the right choices.”
Kyra Kristmanson, third-year English student, and Stephane Patenaude, third-year French student
Kyra: “I was disappointed. Kind of embarrassing.”
Stephane: “Hate won, and it’s pretty sad . . . I think it takes more than one person to make decisions for governments. I mean, it’s not just Trump. That being said, he’d love for hate to prevail in his entire country. All the people that supported him . . . for me, it wasn’t Trump that was the scary part, but his supporters.”
Alexei Watson, fifth-year Earth and Ocean Sciences student, and Torsten Hansen, fourth-year Earth and Ocean Sciences student
Alexei: “Well initially I didn’t think it would affect me, but after seeing what Trump’s gonna do in the first hundred days . . . He said he’s gonna stop any funding to the UN for climate change. Climate change is a big issue that a lot of scientists agree with, and politicians don’t, and it’s kinda gone even further downhill with his decisions and his political regime. So it’s gonna be tough to tackle climate change without one of the biggest polluters. That’s my opinion. In terms of immigration and stuff, it doesn’t really affect me. I’m in Canada, I’m probably not going to go to the States, but then again . . . we’re both geologists, and looking from a geologist’s perspective, he’s gonna run the country like a business, and not really consider the environment. So, good for us, you know. They’re gonna open mines, they’re gonna put money into exploration. It’s gonna be good for us cause there’s gonna be jobs. I don’t know, I’m sitting on the fence between environment and work. Yeah, it’s difficult. I think it’s gonna be a tough four years, for not only the States but for a lot of countries associated and affiliated with the states and their trades.”
Torsten: “Basically, I agree. I’m from Europe. Still, it’s got a lot of attention back home, and I guess I just think it’s so bizarre. I can’t do much else but to laugh, I guess. I’m worried about the environment, the consequences. But yeah, I . . . [sighs] I can’t do anything about it, and he’s not all-powerful, even though he’s going to have a lot of power. At least that’s what I tell myself. But yeah, hopefully it’s not going to be so bad. Maybe getting Trump elected is going to be the wakeup call the U.S. needs, in order for them to find a new perspective on their social and environmental problems.”
All photos by Cormac O’Brien
