The Town of Niverville may not be a town for too much longer.

The upcoming Statistics Canada census in May has Mayor Myron Dyck thinking about the influx of newcomers his community has welcomed in recent years. While he does not expect the town will achieve the 7,500-person population necessary to declare Niverville a city this time around, he thinks they will be pretty close.

“In the last two censuses, both in 2016 and in 2011, Niverville's population grew by 30% from one census to the next, the highest in the province, and we are continuing to see those kinds of numbers,” states the mayor. “At the last census, in 2016, our population was 4,610, and it would not surprise me if Niverville is now between 6,000 and 6,200." 

New developments like this one on Niverville's west side illustrate the growth spurt the community continues to go through.

Reflecting on his community’s past, Dyck says it is bizarre to him that the words “city” and “Niverville” can even be used in the same breath. It was as recent as 1990 when Niverville was little more than a small group of farmers living in close quarters, and now the region has exploded with activity.

“There was a time when Niverville was labeled as a ‘bedroom community”, and that was always a dart that stuck in my craw,” says Dyck, proud of where his town has come.

He believes fewer and fewer people who are moving to Niverville are doing so for its proximity to Winnipeg and more and more people are doing so because the town itself is a desirable place to live. Significant strides in retail, schooling, dining, and health care mean residents have the amenities they want within their home communities.

“When you watch the traffic flows at 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, it is not just outbound at 8:00 and inbound at 5:00," he adds. "There are a lot of people who don’t live in the community who are coming to work in the community.”

In addition to creating local jobs and even professional careers, Dyck says a diverse array of businesses help stabilize the tax base. In some ways, he says he envies the City of Steinbach for their 60-40 residential to business split and says Niverville is still working its way down from an 87-13 split only a few short years ago.

This rapid growth does come with growing pains though, and Dyck says he is sensing certain tensions in his community. For example, as businesses recognize Niverville as a viable market, longtime entrepreneurs who have enjoyed a monopoly over certain goods or services are suddenly faced with competition.

“Change is good, but it sometimes gives people apprehension,” remarks Dyck. “There are people wanting to come to Niverville because they also want to be part of what is going on here, even if it means competing.”

It is clear to Dyck that some residents enjoy being part of this urbanization process and others do not. Ultimately though, he says it is not Council’s goal to officially become a city, but rather to handle their resources and maintain their community infrastructure in a way that best serves everyone who lives there... it just so happens that the "everyone who lives there" number continues to climb. 

"If we continue with this growth that we are seeing, it will be ten years or less before Niverville is Manitoba’s newest city.”