By Greg Higgins

American born N.B. business owner concerned about election results

Nov 9, 2016 | 4:00 PM

Many people woke up this morning in disbelief of how the U.S. election panned out last night. For one North Battleford resident, the outcome literally hit home.

Sonya Hilsendager moved to North Battleford from Houston, Texas 12 years ago. She has created a home in the city and owns Learning Adventures, an education toy store in the Discover Co-op Mall.

Hilsendager said on a scale of one to 10 she was following the election at an 11. During the span of the coverage Hilsendager said she went through a range of emotions.

“At first I was quite excited and then I was overwhelmed and then I was quite depressed,” Hilsendager said. “Being an American I am quite upset … we have a person that is in leadership that has no clue about politics. He has brought out quite a bit of division into the different ethnic backgrounds.”

Hilsndager said she was expecting a tight race but ultimately thought Hillary Clinton would win. She added her family back home is “devastated.” Although her and her family expected Texas to vote republican because in all her years of voting she has never seen the state go democrat, they weren’t expecting a red president.

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

21h ago

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

Apr 18, 2024

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

Now Hilsendager is inviting her family and friends up North.

“I have had lots of Facebook posts saying ‘can I come and stay with you?’ or ‘are you hiring at your store?’” Hilsendager said. “I’ve said ‘come on, you are welcome to come.’ My grandson recently moved back to the states but he is Canadian, so I told my daughter to send him back home.”

Hilsendager said she voted via overseas voting and said 95 per cent of the people she knew voted Clinton and were very upset.

Hilsendager has concerns about Donald Trump being in charge moving forward.

“You know that’s the scary part,” Hilsendager said. “A lot of people don’t realize that when they are voting for a president it’s not just personal. This is going to affect Canada, Russia, and China. It is going to affect everyone.”

Hilsendager said she is already seeing racial tension on Facebook. She added it will take some time for the transition to happen but hopes for a positive outcome for everyone.

Greg Higgins is battlefordsNOW’s city municipal affairs and health reporter. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.