Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on February 08, 2016,
at City Hall Committee room # 2

Present:

Agenda

1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Report of the President
4. Presentation by the New Humber River Hospital
5. Presentation by Hon. John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
6. Presentation by Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario NDP
7. New Business
8. Adjournment
9. Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mr. Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion to approve the agenda. Rafi Boghossian seconded it. The motion was carried

Minutes of the previous meeting:

President’s Report/Discussions:

• Thomas Saras also reminded the members to renew their membership this year in order to enjoy the benefits and privileges of being a member of NEPMCC.

• Thomas Saras informed that nomination for this year’s annual award has begun and will close on June 30 2016
• President Thomas Saras suggested that NEPMCC launch a digital publishing platform for the members of NEPMCC. A consulting firm will undertake this assignment on behalf of NEPMCC after a contract being signed by both. The consulting firm will alsodo the marketing for NEPMCC. The proposal is subject to approval from Government. The consulting company will also do the marketing to NEPMCC. There were various discussions around this topic. President Saras mentioned a committee to be formed which could liaison with the consulting form for this project. This project will be major breakthrough for all the members as it would increase their reachability and target audience. There were also suggestions by some members that NEPMCC could approach Trillium Foundation for future projects for the community
• President Thomas Saras announced on all the proposed events that will take place in 2016.President Thomas Saras thanked all the members for their hard work to make 2015 a year of great success. The annual dinner was a great success with the participation of very distinguished individuals from different sections of the community and the government. President Thomas Saras, however expressed regret that more members of the council could come with their families to attend a function like this as it brings us together. The event, however was over sold out, and more participation of the members with their family would be desired in the future as special arrangements are made for such events for the members.

Presentation by the New Humber River Hospital:

Andrea Rennie-Taverner and Stepahnie Highfield made an elaborate presentation on the New Humber River Hospital
Some of the highlights of the presentation were as follows:

New Humber River Hospital opened on October 18, 2015. 

Humber River Hospital is one of Canada’s largest regional acute care hospitals, serving a catchment area of more than 850,000 people in the northwest GTA. 

Affiliated with the University of Toronto and Queen's University, the hospital is home to Ontario’s first Centre of Excellence for laparoscopic bariatric surgery; Canada’s first home nocturnal dialysis program and a major cancer program. 

Following the presentation may members participated in the discussions
The presenters emphasized the need to spread awareness of this facility to the community
President Thomas Saras suggested of publishing an article on Humber River Hospital by the member publications of NEPMCC and thanked the delegation for their time.

Presentation by Hon. John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Maria Saras Voutsinas introduced the Honourable Minister to NEPMCC.
Hon. John McCallum thanked NEPMCC for arranging a meeting with its members. He began his presentation by acknowledging the important role ethnic media outlets play in Canadian Society by educating and informing its audience.
He mentioned that refugee crisis is a crucial issue, but by far is not the only issue in immigration. He said we are in course to fulfill our first target of 25,000 Syrian refugees in the country. He acknowledged that there is need to bring the processing time for immigration down. Some of the issues he discussed were as follows:

As part of the Annual Immigration Levels Plan for 2016, bring forward a proposal to double the number of entry applications for parents and grandparents of immigrants to 10,000 a year.

Give additional points under the Entry Express system to provide more opportunities for applicants who have Canadian siblings. Increase the maximum age for dependents to 22, from 19, to allow more Canadians to bring their children to Canada.

Bring forward a proposal regarding permanent residency for new spouses entering Canada. Develop a plan to reduce application processing times for sponsorship, citizenship and other visas.

Fully restore the Interim Federal Health Program that provides limited and temporary health benefits to refugees and refugee claimants. Establish an expert human rights panel to help you determine designated countries of origin, and provide a right to appeal refugee decisions for citizens from these countries. Modify the temporary foreign workers program to eliminate the $1,000 Labour Market Impact Assessment fee to hire caregivers and work with provinces and territories to develop a system of regulated companies to hire caregivers on behalf of families.

  Lead efforts to facilitate the temporary entry of low risk travelers, including business visitors, and lift the visa requirement for Mexico.

  Work with the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to repeal provisions in the Citizenship Act that give the government the right to strip citizenship from dual nationals.  Eliminate regulations that remove the credit given to international students for half of the time they spend in Canada and regulations that require new citizens to sign a declaration that they intend to reside in Canada.

Michael Homzi, Margaret, Janus, Maria, Dr. Tajdolati, Aris Babikian, Raffi Boghossian, Suleiman Guven and many other members participated in a wide range of issues regarding immigration, reunification of families, refugee settlement, citizenship etc.
The Honourable Minister candidly answered all questions and welcomed suggestions and feedback from members during the roundtable discussion.

President Thomas Saras thanked Hon. John McCallum for spending his valuable time in meeting with the members of NEPMCC.

Presentation by Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario NDP

Maria Saras-Voutsinas invited Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to make her presentation.

She began her address by mentioning “your voices are the voices of our community’’ NDP urges the Ontario Government to include the Anti-Racism directorate in its budget. Racism continues to be a persistent reality for many Ontarians. Thousands have joined the NDP’s call to take action against racism and build a more inclusive Ontario. But to make change a reality, there must be a real commitment. There needs to be proper funding and staffing and a clear mandate for this Anti-Racism Directorate.
The Ontario NDP launched a campaign in mid-December in 2015 calling for the creation of a legislative anti-racism office.  Since the launch, over 7,000 Ontarians have signed petitions, both online and off, calling for the establishment of an Ontario Anti-Racism Secretariat. The call for the establishment of an anti-racism office in Ontario has been advocated by the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA), and the Colour of Poverty campaign, which combined represent over 100 community organizations
Following her remarks, Dmitri, Janus, Aris Babikian, Margaret, Rosemary Sadlier, Dr. Tajdolati, and many other members participated in discussions in a wide range of topics about the proposed Anti-Racism Directorate, foreign trade professionals, job creation in Ontario and other important issues.

Thomas Saras thanked Andrea Horwath for her time and requested members to increase awareness of the Anti-Racism Directorate in their publications.

New Business:

Presentation by Arman Aghbali - Radio CJRU.CA

Arman Aghbali made a brief presentation about CJRU. This is a test stream that includes a variety of programming from the university, Ryerson students, the community at large and sample programs from the NCRA Program Exchange. It is broadcasted at 1280 AM with the license from CRTC. He mentioned there are various slots available for multi-cultural and multi lingual programming and interested members can contact his office for participation.

Presentation by Chandresh Sharma, former Tourism Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

Chandresh Sharma made a brief presentation to the members of NEPMCC and expressed his pleasure to attend the monthly meeting of NEPMCC. He stressed the importance of organization like NEPMCC in safeguarding the democratic institutions by encouraging dialogue among the diverse community in Canada and hoped to see NEPMCC participate in future events organized under United Nations.
President Thomas Saras thanked the former minister from Trinidad and Tobago for his time.

President Thomas Saras thanked all the members who worked very hard over the years to make NEPMCC a strong voice for the community and wished to make 2016 an even better year for all the members of NEPMCC. He wished the members and their families the best for 2016!

Adjournment:

Raffi Boghossian moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Dr. Tajdolati seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair, President Thomas Saras adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place on March 14, 2016 at City Hall, committee room #3.