Post-election uneasiness settles in for Canadians living in the U.S.

Ali Nazer, a Torontonian living in San Francisco for the last 14 years, says Tuesday's election result has left him feeling profoundly uneasy.

He has a career, an American wife, and a young son in California, but he told Metro Morning that Donald Trump's victory filled him with "an impulse to grab my Canadian passport and head to the border."

Nazer was born in Iran, and his wife is of Asian descent. "I don't know if I want to raise my child in this environment," he explained.

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​Jeff Leon, originally from Toronto and living in Washington, D.C., for the last 10 years, said on Metro Morning that he's also feeling unsettled.

After seeing the way the election was going, he slipped out of a Tuesday evening watching party early, feeling unsafe. "For me, I'm a person of colour, and I didn't feel comfortable walking around or being outside after dark seeing these election results," he said.

Deep division exposed

Nazer and Leon both say they've been left reeling from what they've learned about their adopted home.

"It has changed my perception of this country," said Nazer.

Keneshia Grant, a political science professor at Howard University in Washington D.C., said in a separate interview on Metro Morning that the election is a reminder to Americans that "we have not made the kind of progress we think we have."

The election has revealed a deep division in the country, she explained.

There are people who "saw this vote [for Trump] as a way to protect themselves," and people who are "not sure they can trust [Trump] to run the government."

On Wednesday, protests against the president-elect erupted around the United States. 

Uncertainty about the future

Leon said he has been left wondering what the results of a Trump presidency will be.

"I've run into so many people for whom the mood is sombre," he said. Many of his friends work in government, he explained, and "people are very stunned and uncertain about their jobs."

Grant has also been thinking about the same question: what will the United States look like after a Trump presidency?  

"I trust the American system to take care of itself. I trust the checks and balances. I trust the separation of government to keep him contained," she said.

"He could make America a very different feeling place. But I don't think he will destroy the union."