Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on December 11, 2017, at Committee Room #1 City Hall.
Present:
Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Jacque Varbedian
Ricky Castellvi
Jamila Twahir
Mohammad-Bagher Samimi
Teshome Woldeamanuel
Shahidul Mintu
Alex Moritoelv
Isa Mela
Rosemary Sadler
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Nihu Nanda
Sandie De Freitas
Norman Hart
Yuri Natchetoi
Kon Loo
Cefar Bangu
Dumitru Popesku
Anna Niewr
Mohammad Tajdolati
Eugenea Bakchsnow
Elizabeth Muzak
Najib Popalzai
Wais Popalzai
Emmanuel Ayiku
Jonathan Annobil
Kathy Lin
Hai Tien Lin
S. Krishnalingam
Nishante Dirk
Alimahboub (ESHARE TV)
Ahmad Shah Hotaki
Kolosowski Mike
Ingra Cernei
H Anastasios
Easy24newsTV
Ahmad Rostamijour
Elsayed Nasr
John Saraidaris
Martin Van Denzen
Arif Ahmed
Khalid Magram
Eugenea Bakchinow
Hermie Garcia
Mila Astroga Garcia
Maria Swietorzeclei
Marek Goldyn
Janusz Niemczyk
Ranjit Wicks
Srimal Abeyewardene
Ernesto Donan
Susana Donan
Kevin Wang.
Agenda
- Welcome Remarks by the chair.
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- Report of the President/Discussions
- Presentation by YMCA of Greater Toronto
- New Members/New Business
- Adjournment
Welcome Remarks by the Chair:
Dr. Tajdolati chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open.
Isa Melo moved a motion to approve the agenda. PooyanTabatei seconded it. The motion was carried. .
Minutes of the previous meeting:
Shahidul Islam Mintu moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting. Isa Melo seconded it. The motion was carried.
President’s Report/Discussions:
President Thomas Saras reminded the members to renew their membership this year in order to enjoy the benefits and privileges of being a member of NEPMCC. He expressed disappointed that only a portion of members have renewed their membership.
President Thomas Saras thanked everyone for the successful celebration of Annual Awards on November 17 at City Hall. It was presided by The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. President Thomas Saras thanked Maria Saras- Voutsinas, Ricky Castellvi, Daniela Spirilec and other committee members who worked hard towards a very successful event.
Tickets for the Annual Dinner were sold out during the meeting. The Annual Dinner will be a very memorable event for the families of the members of NEPMCC. During the Annual Get-Together some members of NEPMCC along with other community leaders and dignitaries would be honoured. The event will be attended by the Premier of Ontario, Mayor of Toronto, Ontario Citizenship and Immigration Minister, and many other leaders from all levels of government and leaders representing the major political parties in Canada.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that the first phase of the digital publishing platform had begun from January 2017 and the second phase will be completed by March 2018. He mentioned that the company responsible for the implementation of The Digital Publishing Platform were suppose to update 5 websites every month and as a result 60 websites were supposed to be migrated every year to the Digital Publishing Platform. In order for the project to complete under the given timeline and to meet other requirements, this project will now be handles under Yuri Natchetoi. Imran Bashir and his company are no more involved with this project as he could not maintain the deliverables of this project.
The President asked the members which have not submitted their websites for inclusion to this project, to do so as soon as possible. To this extend they have to submit their web address and their name and title of the news-paper or magazine together with their telephone number to saras@patrides.com or saras@nepmcc.ca , stating that they want to join the project.
The address of our mass web site is www.nationalethnicpresscouncil.com every member can visit and see the job that we have done.
President Thomas Saras praised the hard work of Margaret P. Bonikowska, Cindy Gu and other members of the committee that prepared a report on behalf of NEPMCC for submission to the Department of Canadian Heritage regarding the Canadian Periodical Fund. The purpose of this submission is to present the views of Canada’s ethnic media industry which has been working tirelessly to serve as a unique bridge between Canada and its constantly growing immigrant population. Motion: President Thomas Saras suggested that the report prepared by the committee to Heritage Canada regarding the Canadian Periodical Fund be accepted for submission. PooyanTabetei moved a motion in this. Eugenia Bakchinow seconded it. The motion was unanimously carried. The President asked to submit the report to Canadian Heritage as fully representing the will of the members of the sector.
New Members/ New Business:
RDSP-Registered Disability Savings Plan-Alex Warifogolou made a brief presentation on the program.
Mohammad Sohi, Director - Khermand Magazine- A Persian Cultural Monthly Magazine.
Essie Wambul, Co- Founder and Editor-in-Chief-Wakeneya Canada
Adjournment: Pooyan Tabatei moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Ahmad Shah Hotaki seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair, Dr.Tajdolati adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place on Monday, January 08, 2018 at the City Hall.
