Minutes
of the Monthly Meeting held on April 11, 2011 at Queen’s Park. Toronto
On .
Present:
Thomas
S. Saras Aaron
Berhane Ahmed
Hotaki Asha
Rajak Bahram
Bahrami C.
Senthi Charles
Devasagayam Dumitru
Popescu Emmanuel
Ayiku Hai-Tien
Lin Hermie
Garcia Iosif
Spataru J.
Saraidaris John
Saraidaris K.
David Lim Kevin
Wang Khan
Khoda Logan
Logendralingam Luba
Cherny Marek
J.D. Goldyn Mario
Spataru Mark
J. Goldyn Mehmet
Olauli Mila
Garcia Mohamed
Tajdolati Mohammad
Bagher Samimi Mohammad
Tajdolati Mulugeta
Zergaber Muse
Kulow Ned
Blair Neel
Nanda Parry
Long Peter
Galiatsos R.
David Lim Ranjit
Wics Romeo
Marquez Saad
Alsafar Srimal
Abeyawardene Suleyman
Guven Sultan
Ali Shambali Syleyman
Guven Tanas
Jovanovski Viara
Dimitrova William
Doyle-Marshall Agenda 1.
Welcome Remarks by the chair. 2.
Minutes of the previous meeting. 3.
Presentation by Gerard Kennedy- Member of Parliament ,
Parkdale –High Park 4.
Presidents Report 5.
New Business 6.
Adjournment Welcome
Remarks by the Chair: Thomas
Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. William Doyle
Marshall moved a motion to approve the agenda. Srimal Abyewardene seconded
it. The motion was carried. Minutes of the previous meeting: Srimal Abeyawardene moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on March 14 2011 Mareck J Goldyn seconded it. The motion was carried. President’s
Report/Discussions: ·
Thomas Saras thanked
all the members for attending the meeting. ·
NEPMCC had submitted
a proposal on the socio economic survey of the ethnic media. ·
President Thomas
Saras spoke about the work claimed to be done by a consultant towards the
proposal of the economic survey submitted to the Federal Government ·
President Thomas
Saras informed that the proposed economic survey submitted earlier to the
Federal Government is in the final steps.
This project is going to enrich our powers. We have to demonstrate the power of ethnic media through the
survey. He informed the members the proposed funding for the economic
survey has been approved by the ministry and a tentative agreement has
been signed by the Federal Government and NEPMCC on March 31,2011 ·
President urged the
members to cooperate and respond to the economic survey undertaken by
NEPMCC as it was in their own interest to participate. ·
The project will be
conducted in liaison with Seneca College, school of business. ·
The office of the
President will send the questionnaire via email. The office of the President will also mail the hard copy of
the questionnaire to all the members. Students will also individually call
members of the ethnic media publications who did not respond earlier
either by electronically or by filling the hard copy. President urged
members to participate in the survey. ·
Mila Garcia
suggested in cooperating with the faculty of Seneca College while the
drafting of questionnaire so that the right questions are designed for the
survey. ·
NEPMCC will seek to
conduct a national seminar based on the findings of the survey. ·
President
is working with the Federal Government on a proposal submitted earlier for
2011-2012. ·
Effective from the month of September, we are going to start
planning second phase of the educational seminar. We are going to hold
this seminar in 2012, since there are various processes involved in
applying for funds and preparation and we also need enough time for the
preparation ·
The office of the
President approached various ministries for receiving fund for the awards
ceremony. ·
President Thomas
Saras encouraged the suggestion of an artistic NEPMCC pin to be
distributed during various events organized and hosted by NEPMCC. ·
President suggested
to organize a two day workshop in City Hall dealing with training of
application for PAP ·
President Thomas
Saras mentioned a professional Information Technology Company will
maintain the website of NEPMCC making it highly interactive and user
friendly. ·
This year
NEPMCC is organizing the annual ethnic press festival Exhibition from May
9 – May 16 at the rotunda of City Hall. The exhibition will probably be
opened by Premiere Daltion McGuinty on May 9, 2011. Invitation has also
been sent to Mayor Rob Ford. The opening ceremony of the exhibition will
also feature a host of dignitaries and officials from all three levels of
Government. There will a reception on the opening day after the speeches
where variety of food and wine will be served to guests. The
President asked members to submit three best issues of their publication
for the festival. A three
member panel chaired by Dr. Tajdolati will judge the publications for
awards in various categories. If funds are available in future besides the
Toronto City Hall, we will also move this exhibition to Quebec, B.C. and
Montreal in the coming years ·
President Thomas Saras mentioned that when we are deciding
on an award we are recognizing a publication due to their attendance and
for their commitment in supporting the organization by working hard for
the cause of the ethnic media and the council. ·
NEPMCC Awards. In October we will organize our Awards
ceremony. Effective from January 1st until 31st of
May 2011, members can download nomination forms from our website and
submit names of members they propose from their community, media or
organization who they think are eligible for recognition or to receive the
NEPMCC Awards. Forms are available online. For the awards, we are planning
to reach various Ministries to sponsor awards for each award recipient and
category. This process is open for the submission now. Members were asked
to send the completed nomination form to either Dr. Tajdolati or to the
office of the President. . · Canada Day celebration will take place on July 2nd. President will notify the members of the special guest for the event. · Annual get-together is slated to take place on December 16, 2011. · Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). This year we have requested for space on international pavilion where we can display exhibition of the ethnic press for the eighteen days. Members were urged to ask their local business to sponsor some prizes which is going to be announced through lucky draw for the people who visit our pavilion. (August 18- September 2,) There may be prizes for the draw. Srimal Abeyawarden suggested of advanced publicity for the event. · Word on the Street. Besides Toronto, this year we are going also to organize this exhibition in Vancouver on the same day with Toronto. · Ned Blair suggested if members could give donation to the council. · There may be a roundtable discussion with the Prime Minister in April or May · President read out a letter from Hon Sophia Aggelnotis Ontario Minsiter of Revenue. Thomas Saras welcomed Gerrard Kennedy to the
council and invited him to address the floor. Than Remarks for the National Ethnic Press and
Media Council of Canada April 11, 2011 By Hon Gerard Kennedy, MP “Thank
you very much for the invitation. I hope we can have a good discussion on
Canada today. We in the Liberal Party do not believe that stimulus should
be taken away from the economy. Corporate Tax cuts have not resulted in
job growth in the last 5 years. The focus is on education. The challenge
in Canada today is a federal Government for some Canadians or every
Canadian. We have an election for the first time for contempt of
Parliament. This Government has not ratified the charter of rights. If
this election proves to be another trip to the bazaar then no matter who
wins we will lose. Why wasn’t there a debate in the country when Freedom
was being given out in the guise of safety? This government wants to build
more prison than keeping people safer and preventing the crime and
property. We have to defend the charter of rights. I talked about Canada
is the first international country. What if somebody who was born outside
the country does it make them less Canadian. So what if Mr. Ignatieff
spent a few years successfully overseas is he any less Canadian? Below
are some of the issues raised by Gerard Kennedy – Liberal Candidate for
Parkdale- High Park
Mario,
William Doyle Marshall, Suleiman Guven, Mareck J Goldyn, Ahmed Shah Hotaki,
Muse Kulew, Janus Raudkavi, Srimal Abyeawardene, Aaron Behrame and
President Thomas Saras and other members participated in the discussion.
A
wide variety of topics were intensely discussed such as
·
Transition
of the Liberal Party while being in the opposition.
·
Government
spending billions in defence purchases
·
Liberal
Platform for Federal Election
·
Future
of Canadian families.
·
Early
learning strategy for families with young children.
·
Supplementary
Pension Plan.
·
Investment
in clean energy
·
Investments
in infrastructure
·
Effects
of federal government cuts on settlement services
·
Canada
as a globally networked country.
·
Liberal
representation of Canadian society in politics/government
·
Liberal
foreign policy
·
Liberal
Poverty Reduction Policy.
·
Canada
as an agent of fairness.
·
The
need to deliver results in politcs
. New
Business: Mareck J.D. Goldyn announced an event
celebrating the 21st anniversary of European Day. . Adjournment: Suleiman Guven moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, Dr. Khan Khoda seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 10:30 pm. The next meeting would take place on May 16, 2011 |