There are now more than 25 churches in Winkler, up from 18 at the turn of the millennium. 

More churches are under construction, while Muslim families in Winkler and Morden leased a building in downtown Winkler this year and converted it into a mosque.

Immigrants are flocking to these cities in the Pembina Valley for two main reasons: quality of life and jobs.

But driving through their quiet streets – the communities are about 10 minutes away from one another on Highway 3 – a visitor wouldn’t know that the booming companies that dot the outskirts of both communities manufacture everything from down jackets to model homes.

In 2011, Winkler’s population stood at 10,700; Morden’s was 7,800.

Both cities and the surrounding region have grown by more than 3,000 people since, thanks in great part to immigration programs that have drawn people from all over the world – and are so successful that people in other parts of Canada are taking note.

As their populations age and young adults move away, small cities and towns across Canada are increasingly looking to immigration as a way to rejuvenate their workforce and expand their tax base.

But many struggle to attract people and convince them to stay.

That’s not the case in Winkler, where more than half of the people who’ve immigrated there since the late 1990s have made it their long-term home.