• Some Americans are moving to Canada in search of less polarized politics and a lower risk of gun violence.
• Two people who moved said they faced long waiting lists for health care and still high housing costs.
• “Canada is one of the greatest countries in the world, but it is not a utopia,” said an immigration lawyer.

Mahlena-Rae Johnson was born in the South and moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school. Eventually, she found a partner and a community of people who made California feel like home.

Johnson, a 42-year-old black woman, said she sensed a turning point when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. She said she felt it was exposing deep political and ideological divisions within the nation, leading to growing intolerance toward non-Cci-Americans.

In 2018, she and her partner moved to Canada in search of what they felt was a more politically progressive and safer environment in which to raise their children.

“I was watching videos of people moving to Canada, and one man who had moved years ago said he liked living in a place where he knew his country wasn't constantly at war.” Johnson told Business Insider. “It’s overall a place where I feel safer with my family.”

According to Google Trends, searches for “moving to Canada” tend to increase following polarizing events such as the June 27 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. After a disastrous performance in that debate, Biden resigned, making way for Vice President Kamala Harris to eventually become the Democratic nominee.

Similar spikes were observed during the 2016 presidential electionthe bitter Debate between Trump and Biden before the 2020 presidential election and the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022.

Searches for “moving to Canada” had already increased in the month leading up to Election Day 2024. According to Google Trends, they jumped on Election Day and the day after, when Trump won the presidency.

“When there's an election cycle or when people don't like who's getting elected, usually Americans in particular want to move to Canada,” VisaPlace CEO Michael Niren, an immigration lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in Canadian migration, told BI .

Fewer Americans are actually realizing their internet dreams and taking the plunge. From 2015 to the end of the third quarter of 2024, 93,095 Americans were granted permanent residency, according to Canadian government immigration data.

The number of Americans granted permanent residency increased in most years during this period. In 2015, 7,655 people contracted it; in 2023 there were 10,640 people. In 2021 the number was highest: 11,955.

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Two Americans who recently moved to Canada told BI they did so to escape polarized and divisive politics, seek better health care and feel safer in their communities.

Although they said their overall quality of life has improved, they noted that the grass is not greener in all areas: there can be long waiting lists for medical care, and buying a home is very expensive.

One promoter said Canada's schools are better, but free health care is still lacking

Johnson, who primarily wanted to escape American politics, said she discovered some advantages of the Canadian school system once her children were enrolled.

In LA, she said, “many schools are in trailers instead of real buildings,” but in Canada “kids can go to school and not have to worry about having a safe place or not being in a real building. “

Johnson said she and her family also enjoyed Canada's universal, publicly funded health care system, in which citizens and permanent residents receive most medically necessary treatments and medications for free or at very low cost.

She added that there were some frustrations, including long wait times for medical care. “During the pandemic, doctors have not been able to treat patients as regularly and non-urgent procedures have been postponed, so there is a backlog,” she said.

Niren, who has lived in both the United States and Canada, expressed similar concerns. He said his own mother, who needed a hip replacement, had been on the waiting list for 18 months.

“There are people who have to fly to other countries – including the US – for cancer treatment because the treatment takes too long,” he said. “In the US you can get a specialist appointment within two days.”

Niren also said Canadians paid increased taxes to support such a comprehensive health care system.

“People call it free health care — it’s not free,” he said. “It’s very expensive because you pay for it through taxes.”

An American found relief from the violence and opioid crisis in the United States in Canada

Chris Ouellet, 40, left Portland, Oregon for Victoria, British Columbia in 2020. It wasn't his first goal, he said, but in the end he found the peace and security he was looking for.

He and his partner had planned to move there Wellington, New Zealandbut were unable to do this because of the border closures caused by the pandemic. Many of the qualities Ouellet looked for in New Zealand he found in British Columbia, he said.

“We love the Pacific Northwest and Canada is not far away,” Ouellet told BI. “It's very similar weather and they have a lot of the things we wanted and were looking for in New Zealand, namely lower education costs, socialized healthcare and politics that weren't so incredibly polarizing.”

Ouellet, who works for the provincial government in the Ministry of Health in British Columbia, spoke enthusiastically about Portland but noted the “pretty bad” violence and opioid crises he has seen in the U.S. as a whole. Before Portland, he and his partner lived in Chicago. The violence they read about or saw on their daily commute to work prompted them to move west and eventually leave the country entirely, he said.

He didn't have the same worries in Canada.

“In British Columbia, the rules for owning a gun are extremely strict,” he said. “If you're in public and you hear a noise, no one runs, no one looks over their shoulder, no one thinks it could possibly be gun violence.”

He added that there is still an opioid crisis in British Columbia, but it is not as dramatic as in Portland. Ouellet said he has seen one syringe on the ground in the three years he has lived in British Columbia, compared to Portland, where he said he could see dozens in a day.

Ouellet said he has no regrets about moving to British Columbia Canada's Housing Crisis had previously suppressed his dream of owning his own home.

“The house we had in Portland had three bedrooms and 2½ baths. It was about 1,800 square feet and we bought it for $265,000,” he said. “You can't find a place here for this price. Most condos cost around $500,000 to $900,000. Single-family homes cost almost a million.”

As Niren said, “Canada is one of the greatest countries in the world, but it is not a utopia.”

This story was originally published on December 5, 2023 and updated on November 5, 2024.

Are you an American who moved to Canada? We want to hear from you. Contact reporter Alcynna Lloyd at [email protected] and Jordan Pandy [email protected], with your story.