These online communities allow young people to connect with their heritage and others who share it, while polishing their language skills and offering advice to new immigrants. And with a high number of Canadian members or administrators, such groups reflect this country's evolving multicultural makeup.
"The Internet is definitely a tool that brings people of the same culture together, whether by cultural, social and even humorous websites," Maurice-Adrian Popescu, a 22-year-old Montrealer who runs a Facebook group devoted to Romanian culture, said in an e-mail interview. "The distance between the new country and the old country has been reduced, and we can keep in touch with what's going on at home."
The 2,000-plus members of the group get involved in humanitarian or political causes, he says, and trade one-liners like, "You know you're Romanian when your mom tells you you're too skinny even though you're 30 pounds overweight."
Popescu came to Canada with his parents when he was eight years old and says he's noticed a recent shift in his generation.
"Young Romanian-Canadians have developed a strong sense of solidarity with each other and with their culture, something that has improved compared to past years," he says.
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