To the editor

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To the editor,

As friendly a place as Sussex seems to be, there is a huge problem with discrimination in this town. It's not the typical kind of discrimination, it's not the colour of your skin, it's not your religion, it's not your sex. It's where you've been, not where you're from.

I moved from Sussex to Alberta a few years ago. I lived and worked there with my boyfriend. We decided to move back when we heard that the job market here had picked up and it was getting much too expensive to live in Alberta.

We had been hearing about the abundance of jobs here for months before we finally made the decision to move, so we packed our bags, quit our jobs and made the long trek across Canada.

We arrived in winter, admittedly not the best time of the year to look for work here, but we dropped off resumes everywhere regardless. We then waited for spring; we figured the job market would pick up then. I managed to find a job, with next to no experience.

However, I've come to suspect that my being from Sussex may have given me the advantage needed to get the job. Unfortunately, my boyfriend hasn't been as lucky. He has experience and/or an education in many of Sussex's main industries and has great references, but none of this seems to help him get a job here. He has even been told by potential employers that he "won't find a job in Sussex because (he's) not from here because the East Coast is sick and tired of westerners coming out here and stealing all of their jobs."

We're trying to make a living just like everyone else; I just wish that everyone could see that. We like Sussex and we don't want to be run out of town just because we lived in Alberta once.

Nicole Veysey

South Branch