Toronto, GTA residents say their communities do enough for newcomers: poll

The majority of Toronto and GTA residents say their communities do enough for Canadian newcomers in most areas after being asked multiple questions on different supports in a new poll.

The poll conducted by Canada Pulse Insights for CityNews found that 57 per cent agreed enough settlement and integration programs are provided, 61 per cent said there were enough language-learning options, 56 per cent agreed there was enough help offered to find employment and 52 per cent said there were enough supports for refugee settlement.

When it came to housing, 28 per cent in Toronto and 25 per cent of the GTA felt there were not enough suitable and affordable options provided for newcomers. Twenty-nine per cent in each said there was too much.

These numbers were also broken down between immigrants to Canada and those who were born in Canada.

In response to nearly all of questions, the two groups were mostly aligned except when it came to how much support your municipality or community provides for refugee settlement in their community.

Thirty-eight per cent of immigrants said their municipality or community provides too much support for refugee settlement. compared to 30 per cent of people surveyed who were born in Canada. Another 49 per cent of immigrants said there was enough support and 12 per cent said not enough.

For those born in Canada, 53 per cent said there was enough and 16 per cent said there was not enough support.

The poll did not breakdown how long each of the immigrants surveyed had lived in Canada.

Toronto was split evenly on federal funding for newcomer intake with 29 per cent saying the country was providing too much funding and the same amount saying it was not enough. The remainder, 42 per cent, said they believed the newcomer intake was enough.

Thirty-one per cent of those in the GTA say there is too much funding, while 23 per cent said it was not enough and 46 per cent said it was the right amount.

Residents aged 35 to 54 had the highest per cent age of respondent saying there were too much support at 39 per cent, compared to both younger who polled at 23 per cent and older residents at 28 per cent.

Despite the majority of those polled saying there was enough support in most areas, 43 per cent of respondents in Toronto and the GTA gave their communities a C.

For Torontonians, 11 per cent graded their city A and 29 per cent said B when it came to supports. Another 11 per cent gave Toronto a D and six per cent gave them a failing grade.

In the GTA, only four per cent said their community should receive a failing grade when it came to supports, and 10 per cent gave it a D. Another 14 per cent of respondents gave their community an A, and another 29 per cent said B.

The average between the two regions came out to a C+.

This survey was conducted prior to the federal budget announcement last week.

The Liberal government announced a new immigration plan which includes targets for 380,000 permanent residents and 370,000 new temporary residents annually through 2029, along with a pledge to make upwards of 200,000 longtime temporary residents permanent by the end of 2027.

Between the one-time plan to give 200,000 additional people permanent residency and a similar plan in last year’s immigration plan, the government looks to add more than 600,000 permanent residents next year. Many of those people are already in Canada and have been here for years, officials said.

This survey was conducted among 510 adult residents of the City of Toronto and 825 residents of the Greater Toronto Area outside Toronto, including Peel Region, Durham Region, York Region, and Halton Region, by Canada Pulse Insights between September 14 and 25, 2026 through an online panel platform managed by Sago. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is ±4.3 percentage points for Toronto and ±3.4 for the GTA, 19 times out of 20.

With files from The Canadian Press