The population of the Pembina Valley continues to expand with the steady number of new immigrant families arriving each year, and last year was no exception.

The Regional Connections office in Winkler welcomed close to 900 new clients to the region in 2016 with most of those families settling in Winkler, Morden, Altona and the surrounding municipalities.

"Those three are the larger communities," said Laurie Sawatzky, Executive Director for Regional Connections. "We also have people who were intending to settle in Winnipeg, but have moved to this area as well, largely due to employment opportunities, but also to reconnect with family and friends.

Last year's immigration numbers remain relatively unchanged from previous years, with the Regional Connections office processing between 35 to 60 new people each month, according to Sawatzky.

The top seven countries from which newcomers are arriving include Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Philippines, Syria and India.

Some of those families were refugees who arrived from war torn lands like Syria. According to Sawatzky, there is a growing interest in the private sponsorship of refugees in this area following an Altona group's successful efforts in bringing five Syrian families to the area last year.

"Our organization has fielded questions from groups that are interested in knowing how to sponsor refugees, such as Carman, where refugees recently arrived from Syria. So, there seems to be more interest."