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Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on November 12, 2018, at Committee Room #2, Toronto City Hall.
Present:
Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Rosemary Sadler
Ricky Castellvi
Jonathan Annobil
Leila MonteiroLins
Jonathan Annobil
Mohammed BagherSamimi
Ali Mahmoud
Mohammad Tajdolati
GhulamRasool
AnfisaLyasota
Ranjit Wicks
Sandie De Freitas
Norman Hart
TeshomeWoldramanuel
Khalid Magen
GezahegnMekonnenDemissie
SaadAlsafar
Rui Yang
HaiTien Lin
Joe Volpe
Logan Longarigham
BanglatoreNagaragn
Arif Ahmed
Marek J. Goldyn
KumananThnambi
Nishrite Don
ErnestoDonan
Isa Melo
ThavapalanKathiravelu
Yuri Natcetoi
John Saraidaris
Said Henry
LuiQueano
ElizabethMurok
S. Krinalingam
Inga Cernei
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia
KumayanThambi
NajibullahPopalzai
Robin Beckosian
Khalid Magnam
HannanMamun
NobodiNews
AysegulKalkan
ErsoyKalkan
Nishanta Don
Ali Mahboub
MulugetaZergaba
JanuszNiemczyk
Denis Brito
Stensont A
GeethaNangarajh
Syed Irbal
Mike Kolosowski
EugineaBakchinow
Boddy Wang
AnastasiosChatzitheofanous
MuhacumadNaeemUl Islam
NajibPopalzai
WaisPopalzai
Foe Jole
Nishantha Dion
ThanapalanKathivarelu
DimitrisVohaitis
DarilBrar
Ahmad Rostamijam
LalitThakar
Lawrence Joseph
Ronny Yason
KhuvanAftab
Abdul Azeem
Qazi AFRASIAB
NawrinFoorah
S Krishnalingam
Sonny Mir
Shaiful Horn
Khalid Morgan
Bobby Wang
Muhammad Boukari
Ahmad Hotaki
Thomas Galgor
S. Sivamohan
Kathy Lin
Kathy Geraklis
KumananThambi
Tamil Muraka
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia
Solomon Areinu
BetyGlothai
Salah Allam
Stena Allam
S. Subramanian
Elizabeth Muzale
Agenda of the day:
- Welcome Remarks by the chair.
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- Report of the President/Discussions
- New Members/New Business
- Adjournment
Welcome Remarks by the Chair:
Dr. Tajdolati chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Jonathan Annobil moved a motion to approve the agenda. Ranjit Wicks seconded it. The motion was carried. .
Minutes of the previous meeting:
Jonathan Annobil moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Inchaha seconded it. The motion was carried.
President's Report/Discussions:
- The 2018 Award Ceremony was held at the Toronto City Hall, in which dignitaries such as Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Andrew Scheer, Mayor of the City of Toronto John Tory, Jim Karygiannis, Russian Consul General Kirill S. Mikhaylow and many others were in attendance.
- National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, celebrated the annual Awards night, recognizing 48 member publications, radio and television producers and directors and also 14 Artist and 14 Leaders of the various communities.
- President Thomas Saras thanked everyone for the success of the Annual Awards Ceremony held at City Hall on November 9. It was a very well executed event and praised Maria Saras-Voutsinas, Enrique Castellvi. Daniela Spirelec, Dr.Tojdalati and all others who worked hard for the success of the event.
- Educational conference/seminar will be held next year for 3 -4 days. A survey will be sent to the members to finalize the curriculum of the seminar. The seminar will most likely take place in Seneca College.
- NEPMCC would submit a proposal to build a free website for all members who do not have a website.
- Motion: A Motion was on the floor which would authorize the office of the President of NEPMCC to organize an educational seminar and to build a website for the members who do not have one. The motion was moved by Demitri Vohalatis and seconded by Mareck Goldyn seconded it. The motion was unanimously carried.
- Maria Saras –Voutsinas informed the members that in January 2018 NEPMCC would partner with mainstream media organizations to raise the cause of ethnic media, mainstream media along with small businesses that are struggling due to loss of revenue. The event most likely will take place in a venue at Markham. More information will be relayed to all the members once the event is finalized.
- The NEPMCC multicultural arts festival held on October 22 – October 29 at the rotunda of the city hall was a huge success. The opening ceremony was attended by artist from diverse ethnic background along with political dignitaries and community leaders. It did send a message of freedom of expression through arts.
- President Thomas Saras, informed the members that he represented the ethnic media at the standing committee of the senate to educate the committee about the grievances of the ethnic media.
- There was discussion in the floor that as an organization we need to run an editorial about our sector every month on the issues facing our industry and our community. Dr. Tajdolati, Ranjit Wicks, Demetri V, Nishant Don and others agreed to form a committee which would submit an editorial that would be run an exclusive editorial for the members of NEPMCC
- The Annual Dinner of NEPMCC will take place on December 14 at the Cypriot Community Centre. The tickets for the event are only $35 per person as it is mostly subsidized by the organization. This is a time of the year when all members come with their families to celebrate the holiday season and the success of the organization. The event will be attended by all levels of Governments and other dignitaries.
- President Thomas Saras mentioned that the Government promised in the last budget to allocate $50 million dollars for five years or 10 million dollars per year, for financial support to community publications, out of this amount 20% should be distributed to Ethnic Media. Unfortunately according to his latest information no action was taken to this direction by the government. He encouraged all members to apply for funds under the Canada Periodical Fund and other such programs by Federal Government. President Thomas Saras would meet with the officials to discuss distribution of advertising in ethnic media. To this extend he is appearing also at the committee of the Senate of Canada on telecommunications for the same reason.
- Thomas Saras mentioned that rules will be changed for receiving grants under Canada Periodical Fund and more emphasis will be given on Canadian content and circulation than sales, which was the measure in the previous years. He emphasized that before submitting their application under the Canada Periodical Fund, the members should thoroughly go over all the rules in order to avoid any rejection of their application.
- President Thomas Saras, mentioned he organized with the Ministry of Canadian Heritage a one day conference on November 2 in order to inform the members of the changes that are taking place in “The Aid to Publishers Program” under the Canada Periodical Fund. The deadline for application for the Canada Periodical Fund is November 24 2018. There was a detailed discussion with the officers from the Ministry of Heritage Canada on the various aspects of the application form. President Thomas Saras hoped that the members were able to benefit by the presentation made by the ministry. The program is in the last financial year and hope more changes in the rules governing the application will be implements next year based on the recommendations of NEPMCC.
- The president also encouraged all the members to apply for an ID or Media Pass of the organization. There are so many benefits; the president said that it is to your advantage to have it.
- The City of Toronto will offer editorials in English which should be translated in 10 different languages. The Editorial will be published in the website and also in the main language of the publications.
- The President spoke about student internship program with the schools of journalism. Internship will be from 3 – 6 months. The program will cover $13 per hour per student and the rest has to be covered by the respective organizations. President Thomas Saras said he will travel to Ottawa to continue his dialogue with the Federal Government regarding advertising and funding of ethnic media. A motion was placed on the floor about his plans for improving the program. The motion was carried unanimously. The office of the president authorized to cover any amount of expenses he needs for this task.
Presentation by Joe Volpe:
He revived CorriereCanadese. The organization began in 1954 and is the largest serving Italian newspaper in North America. The organization has applied for a CRTC licence to offer 24 hours news, current affair programming for Canada's multicultural communities.
New Members/ New Business:
Adjournment: Ranjit Wicks moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Ashikeen Farah 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, December 10, 2018 at committee room N# 2 at the Toronto City Hall.
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