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It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Saskatchewan has gone through a lot of changes in the last 12 years.

There are more people here than ever before. There has been a shift in where people are from and the languages they speak.

We have voiced our support for diversity in the province on countless occasions. We think it’s great. And we look forward to the changes that will continue to come.

However, it is nice when raw data comes out to show just how much things have changed in the province. That information came out last week, when Statistics Canada released information on languages from the 2016 census.

English remains the predominant language in this province. Everybody knew that would be the case. But Tagalog – the language of Filipino people – is now the No. 2 language in the province, with nearly 26,000 people who identify it as their primary language.

French, meanwhile, was just shy of the 16,000 mark.

This is not a call to make Tagalog one of our official languages. Nor should we be cancelling French lessons from our classrooms. French is one of our official languages in this country, and it’s important for Canadian kids to have some working understanding of both languages.

However, it is stunning for some people to see just how quickly the Filipino community has grown in Saskatchewan. It doubled in size from 2011 to 2016.

Some thought that when the federal government scaled back the Temporary Foreign Worker program in 2014, it would significantly reduce the number of Filipinos in this province. Many Filipinos in Saskatchewan came here through that program. Others expected that when the Saskatchewan economy started to decline in the summer of 2014, it would result in the number of newcomers decreasing. Since the Philippines has been a big source of immigration, it would mean fewer Filipinos.

Yet the numbers indicate newcomers are still coming to Saskatchewan, the Filipino community is growing and the province’s population is still on the upswing.

All of this is great news for Saskatchewan. It shows we’re still a place that people want to be. And it shows that newcomers still view this province as a place of opportunity.

A few weeks ago, a citizenship ceremony took place at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum. Twenty-three people became new Canadians. A number of them were from the Philippines.

These people came here years ago not only to fill an employment need for a business, but to improve their lives. They have become part of the community. They have purchased homes, they have enrolled their children in our schools, and they have indeed improved their lives.

It’s tough being so far away from home, but they have coped.

Our communities are better because of it, not just because of the Filipinos, but because of people from other countries who now call Saskatchewan home.