A first of its kind immigration-specific social networking site launched on the Internet by David Cohen

Established only a few months ago, LoonLounge is a rapidly expanding online community and social networking website where established and prospective Canadians can meet and connect for the purpose of building a stronger Canada.

A brainchild of prominent immigration lawyer David Cohen, LoonLounge facilitates the creation of social and professional connections through community membership. The concept behind LoonLounge is based on the knowledge that communities create an informal social assistance system, which could help newcomers in their settlement process, affording them the opportunity to more rapidly contribute to Canada both economically and socially.

Being a global network of online communities, the LoonLounge will help prospective migrants learn from the experiences and advice of newly settled Canadians. While settled Canadians would benefit from developing new relationships with prospective migrants – whether for business or personal motivations – prospective migrants would enjoy the advantages of seamless integration into the Canadian community and economy.

Along with these contacts, services provided on LoonLounge include a job search function, online forums, blog posts, salary survey, immigration assessment, facts about Canada, success stories, access to experts, and links to organizations and more resources. The site lets users join communities based on common ties such as home country or occupation, and can host subgroups for, say, cricket. The new Citizenship and Immigration Canada list of 38 priority jobs and language testing are the two hottest topics on LoonLounge.

"Governmental initiatives just can't provide the kind of support that LoonLounge offers to new Canadians," says David Cohen. "People need a support system. They need a community to get them started in a new life, and they need it before and after they get here."

Although LoonLounge is launched officially this week, the Canadian immigration online community has already made an impact. Nearly 15,000 members from 191 countries have registered, indicative of a social movement over the net. And it is not just immigrants benefiting from this social networking tool, established Canadians and recently-landed immigrants also find the site beneficial.

Though a recent analysis of what works for immigrants by the think-tank Public Policy Forum didn't study LoonLounge in particular, author Winnie Wong points out that the few websites that are effective tools for newcomers involve Canadians rather than just immigrants, and are community-based rather than top-down.

Cohen, who spent two years working on LoonLounge, keeps a low profile on the site, which is run by six people in his Montreal office and doesn't charge any fees or accept advertising.

Immigration is the future of Canada and LoonLounge is your invitation to become involved. Watch a brief animated clip and join the LoonLounge online community today.