One small step: What a giant leap!

Because of it, the history, the economy, the religious and cultural complexion of Western Canada was changed.

It happened at the forks of the Rat and the Red Rivers, a few miles west of the current town of Niverville.

On that day, August 1st, 1874, the first group of Mennonite immigrants arrived from Russia, prepared to settle in Manitoba. In the following years, several more
shiploads came, making a total of almost 8,000 new settlers, wishing to make new homes in Manitoba.

Several generations later, these same immigrants were in a position to act as sponsors for a new wave of Mennonites, fleeing from the Bolshevik revolution. After World War II, a third group were welcomed by the now well-established settlers and their families. . . .