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Julie Ann Melchor is flipping through a photo album in her living room decorated with holiday decorations. On the Christmas tree, like an ornament, hangs a photo of her family by the lake – her two children smiling and squinting in the sun – offering a glimpse of warmer days, a stark contrast to the snow blanketing Red Deer County.
“We’re living a better life since coming to Alberta,” she says. “The quality of life we have here is not comparable to what we had before.”
After a few tough years in the Greater Toronto Area, his family relocated to Red Deer County in 2023, where they purchased their first home in 2021.
“It was not easy,” she tells OMNI News, explaining that despite her job as a nurse and her husband getting a good salary, it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to make ends meet.
“My husband worked 10 to 12 hours a day, sometimes six to seven days a week, to keep up with our expenses and especially our mortgage. It was a real struggle.”
When their mortgage payments nearly doubled, they rented out their house, moved back in with their parents, and took on extra work until they decided to pack up and find a house in Alberta.
“Why settle in a place where there are very expensive houses?” she asks. “Why not go somewhere that’s more affordable, [where you] Can we live a better life by working two, three, four jobs like before?
Melchor is not alone. According to a recent Leger poll conducted exclusively for OMNI News, 44 percent of newcomers have considered relocating to another city or province due to housing costs.
The survey found that owning a home is part of their dream for most immigrants to Canada, but 56 per cent believe it is attainable – a larger share than in 2024.
“Over the last few years, I’ve had clients who moved to Alberta, who moved to different parts of Canada,” Toronto real estate broker Gizelle Mirasol tells OMNI. “Now it’s the opposite. We have too much inventory.”
Still, half of newcomers surveyed by the OMNI-Léger poll admitted they struggle month-to-month to pay their mortgage or rent, and 54 per cent say the cost of living in Canada is too high.
Despite changing expectations, most newcomers are happy they moved to Canada
Alfred Lamm, executive director of the Center for Immigrant and Community Services in Toronto, believes that most immigrants are well aware of the challenges they face when coming to Canada, and when it comes to housing affordability, they know it is not something that is limited only to them.
“It’s nothing new for them to face difficulties in terms of affordability. But this is why they still feel so [moving to Canada] “I think it’s the right decision, it has a lot to do with their hope for the future.”
The OMNI-Léger survey shows that more than 80 percent of immigrants are satisfied with their decision to move to Canada.
For many people, the Canadian dream still means a better standard of living, better career opportunities and personal security.
However, the percentage of people who expect to arrive with financial stability in their new life in Canada has decreased compared to last year, while the number of immigrants who believe owning a home is linked to the Canadian dream has more than doubled since 2023.
Six in 10 immigrants say the Canadian dream is now out of reach
Jason Zeng has been living in Toronto for almost 10 years, and he jokes that if he could give one message to his younger self, he would “definitely tell him to buy a house soon.”
“Canada has seen a huge increase in housing prices over the past decade,” he told OMNI after touring a home that recently came on the market. “In 10 years, it’s probably doubled.”
Still, as he continues to look for a place to call home, he doesn’t feel like he’s let his Canadian dream end.
“Now I have three boys, a big family, a good job,” he says. “I have already achieved my dream.”
The OMNI-Leger survey found that the number of immigrants who believe the Canadian dream is out of reach has been gradually increasing over the past three years, rising to 61 per cent in 2025.
But Lam at the Center for Immigrant and Community Services emphasizes that as more and more newcomers choose to leave, a little optimism is important to help them build their lives here.
He added, “Through all our struggles, I think a lot of people still see Canada as a positive path forward.” “That sense of optimism is what’s driving immigrants’ desire to stay here and really try to establish a new life.”
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Using Leger’s online panel, the poll was completed between October 2 and October 15, 2025 among 1,510 respondents, all of whom were born outside Canada. The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be afforded any margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
This story is part of a series from OMNI News featuring data released throughout the month.