Remarks by Thomas S. Saras   President and CEO of the NEPMCC

                                             AT

   The Awards Ceremony, The L. Governor’s Suite

    Music Room, Queen’s Park, Toronto On.

                    Friday  October 28, 2011

Your Honour, Hon. Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Children and Youth Services. Dear Friends and Colleagues, Hon. Invitees and Awards recipients, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honour and great privilege for me to welcome you today to this function, the celebration of the 34th annual recognition, of the impact members of the ethnic press and media, and also, members of the ethnic communities, have on the Canadian society.

Today’s celebration is the recognition of their considerable contributions to our democracy and also to multicultural fabric of our society.

Today we salute their contributions and recognize their struggles for human rights, for equal opportunities, for peace and understanding among the Canadian communities and the world, and also for justice and respect for all humanity.

Today, we are celebrating the best of our cultures and the men and women dedicated themselves in the service of the dignity of man.

The true spirit of citizenship in the high Athenian sense of democracy, which, compels a man to live his life within the understanding that the rich in diverse cultures society of a truly civilized state, allows to its citizens to choose their own ways to achieve success in good spirit, without hurting their neighbors.

As we pay reverence to the past but also recognize the need of the same direction for the future. Because it said that democracy cannot succeed, unless those who express their concerns express them wisely.

With their outstanding efforts we managed to bring change and progress in our society, in order to prevent any form of oppression, injustice or hat5red, which is a wedge designed to attack on our peace-loving Canadian society.

Our democratic system has conferred on all of us an inestimable gift of individual liberty within the law. We are vitally concerned with preserving the high standards of international restrain, culture and morality.

In an era other communities witness daily instability, frustration and force; we remain united and dedicated to freedom and respect of the law.

Our ideals are democracy and equality, freedom, brotherhood and equal opportunities to all our citizens. Our instrument is honor and friendship. This is the role and the work of this organization to increase understanding among the various cultural communities.

We encourage co-operation, and co-operation means discipline. Discipline in the meaning of working together, in a way that many minds, each one of them preserving independent judgment and formation of opinion work in such way to beat individual differences and personal plans in order to attain common objectives accepted and understand by all.

Furthermore we do believe that these are eternal principles we try to preserve.

Our, therefore is the responsibility of defending these principles if we want to survive the test and challenges of the time, and more passing them on to all the generations yet to come.

Another point is the fact that we should feel real satisfaction in the common knowledge that it is possible in the Dominion of Canada to establish a newspaper in the language of your preference and to enjoy freedom of expression which is guaranteed by the Canadian chapter of Rights, and also supported financially by the government of the country.

It is our, therefore, the duty and responsibility to see that these papers hold to the highest ideals of truth, justice and fair play for the creation of wholesome relationships among the various cultural, religious and racial groups of the Canadian cultural mosaic.

This is rather a very serious element of a healthy democracy, as the constant free flow of news and ideas among us, enabling the interchange of ideas and helps the formation of the need for peace and understanding among our communities.

We are most grateful to you, Your Honour, for hosting this event. It is the fourth year that you have extended to us this courtesy and the seventh by your office, something that we really appreciate.

By doing this, you have not only honopured our organization but also the entire ethnic communities of Canada.

We are also grateful to you, Your Honour, for this gesture of encouragement and support You provide, by hosting this ceremony for the presentation of the Awards.

We are also thankful to Your staff, this wonderful group of civil servants, for their support and enthusiasm in organizing this event.

At this point, please allow me to name Pater Aylan-Parker and Ms. Glenda Milrod, the coordinators of tonight’s event and also Asha Rajak, our executive director, for their efforts.

Your presence here today also signifies Your concerns, care and recognition of the social realities and trends of this great country of ours and also the importance of the ethnic communities in the Canadian multicultural mosaic.

We are also thankful to government of Ontario and the members of the Legislative Assembly of the province for their support. Special thanks  to Hon. Dr. Eric Hoskins, the young scientist and humanitarian who turn politician, the man who dedicated his life and career in the service of the fellow citizens and those sick and in need, and also a friend and supporter of our organization. Thank you also to Hon. Jim Karygiannis for his support and presence in tonight’s celebration.

By recognizing this evening’s recipients we are acknowledge our appreciation for what they have done so far and at the same time wish them luck and encourage them to continue these efforts in the future.

Finally, I want to express our gratitude to all participants in today’s ceremony, as they contributed the most to success of this event, with their presence.

We earnestly hope that our organization will forge ahead to greater accomplishments and achieve the most working together and using our collective influence.

I am happy and proud to report to You, Your Honour, that this organization is, the only one of its kind in the world,- recognized as the representative of all the foreign language media in the country, the federal and provincial government.

Finally I want to express my gratitude and the one of our members for the help and support we are receiving over the period of time from Yourself and Your office.

Thank you all the participants in tonight’s celebration and congratulations to all our honorees.