REGINA — Premier Brad Wall says international immigration is a huge part of Saskatchewan's latest population boom.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of people living in the province has passed the 1.1 million mark for the first time — growing over the past year by more than 20,000 people to 1,108,303.

Premier Brad Wall said the rapid growth shows the strength of Saskatchewan’s economy. When the Saskatchewan Party took government in 2007, it set a goal of increasing the population by 100,000 within 10 years. After reaching that target in six years, Wall says the government is now hoping to reach 1.2 million by 2020.

He says the economy is drawing people to Saskatchewan for jobs and helping to keep new graduates in the province.

The premier also says better immigration policies helped.

"We've got to keep our eyes focused on that because we need newcomers as well, not just for the economy and the labour shortage, but because it makes us better," Wall said Thursday.

"I love all the accents."

Amol Cheema is one of those newcomers who has settled in Saskatchewan.

Cheema, who is originally from India, was in university in Toronto when a couple of his friends moved to Saskatchewan. He followed in 2011.

"They said it was a good province, lots of opportunities, so I came here," Cheema said at a gathering for newcomers Thursday at the legislature.

He said it's been great, except for the "really harsh" winter, which Cheema jokes that he's getting used to.

Cheema, 27, is working as a civilian with the Regina police. He hopes to become an officer when his permanent residency paperwork is complete.

Cheema said he "absolutely" sees himself staying in Saskatchewan for the long-term.

"I love it here," he said.

"It's the same like my province where I came from (in India), it's an agriculture province as well. It's like life is kind of relaxed, you're not rushing to your job. It takes five minutes to go to work. And then I got this opportunity, and I think as an immigrant it's my responsibility to serve the people of Saskatchewan and the people of Canada."

Wall boasted about the rapid growth over the past six years. From 1905 to 1930, the province grew from 236,000 to 900,000. In 1983, the province finally hit one million residents before dropping below that number in 2001. In 2007, Saskatchewan reached one million again and has been growing since.

“So from 1930 to 2007 — 77 years — Saskatchewan grew by 100,000 people,” said Wall.

“Because of that, some thought 100,000 people in 10 years was impossible. Now, we’ve grown by 100,000 in just six years. It really shows the economic strength of this new Saskatchewan, and it shows the naysayers who believed this kind of growth was impossible were dead wrong.”

The newest StatsCan figures do not include municipal populations. In June, Saskatoon’s city planning branch pegged Saskatoon’s population at 246,300 — a 24,000-person jump from the 2011 census estimate. For the entire Saskatoon census metropolitan area, in 2012 StatsCan estimated a population of 284,008.

In total, Canada now has 35,158,304 residents, up by 403,992 over the past year.