It has been another good year for Steinbach in terms of immigration according to Eastman Immigrant Services. Josie Fast is the Program Director. She says numbers are down a little bit from 2017, but there were still a lot of immigrants who chose to make Steinbach their home in 2018.

"Since January, we have had 289 brand new immigrants come into the Steinbach area, plus we are seeing secondary migration, people who first settled in Winnipeg are now moving to our area as well."

Fast explains what is drawing people to Steinbach from Winnipeg.

"I think a lot of people really enjoy the quiet lifestyle that Steinbach has to offer. They feel safe, their kids get to go to good schools, the kids can play outside, they are really enjoying those kinds of things and the community is friendly. People really, really like the atmosphere of Steinbach."

Of the new immigrants to Canada who moved to Steinbach, she notes 169, or almost 60 per cent, are from the Philippines. Fast adds there are also quite a few people from India who are moving to Steinbach, along with people from Paraguay, Mexico Germany and Syria. She says the support systems for immigrants in Steinbach are constantly improving.

"Recently, an organization called Embrace has formed. What that organization is, is an umbrella organization for different ethnocultural organizations. As Eastman Immigrant Services, we're part of that and then we've seen people from Francophone immigrant community, we've seen people from Syria, we've seen people from Brazil etc., all of these groups are organizing themselves and becoming part or this umbrella organization. The point of the umbrella is to connect people to their own cultural groups but also across cultural groups and connect people to the Canadian culture. So it's been a neat thing to see. It's in its infancy but already we have seen different groups help other groups with employment, with information about settling and it's really neat to see how people are helping each other out."

Fast says it's hard to say what the future will hold as far as immigration to Steinbach. But she notes the federal government has signaled its intention to increase immigration and that bodes well for this community.