Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on June 13, 2011 at Queen’s Park

  Present:

Thomas S. Saras

Neel Nanda

Teshome Woldeamanuel

Ahmed Hotaki

Asha Rajak

Mohammad Bagher Samini

Ned Blair

Ranjit Wicks

Arif Ahmed

Valeri Romanov

Tetyana Bebicli

Suleyman Guven

C. Sinthi

Muse Kulow

Srimal Abeyewardene

Sandeep Brabhakar

Rakhee Brabhakar

William Doyle-Marsall

Gerald V. Paul

Sivaj Haroutinia

Raffi Der-Boghossian

Khan Khoda (Dr.)

Marek J. Goldyn

Irene Keroglidis

Viara Dimitriva

Nishanth Don

Mohammas Tajdolati

Chandrarathna Bandera

Trifo Haitas

Mila Astorga-Garcia

Taha Hassaniani

Hermie Garcia Jonathan Annobil

Emmanuel L. Ayiku

Bal Mykynda Nepal

Susana Donan

Jose Donan

Paulraj-Kathir Oli Media

Agenda

1.      Welcome Remarks by the chair.

2.      Minutes of the previous meeting.

3.      Presidents Report

4.      New Business

5.      Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

   Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Dr. Khan Khoda moved a motion to approve the agenda and Srimal Abyewardene seconded it. The motion was carried.

    Minutes of the previous meeting:

Srimal Abeyewardene moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on May 16, 2011 Irene Keroglidis seconded it.  The motion was carried.

President’s Report/Discussions

·        The Canada Day celebration will take place on Saturday July 2nd with a dinner and entertainment at the Whistler’s (McNeil Room) 995 Broadview Avenue. There will be lot of dignitaries and VIPs present to celebrate the event. Members who were interested in attending the special family event were asked to buy their tickets at the end of the meeting. Tickets are available for only $15 per person, which is a special subsidized rate for the members so that they can come and celebrate an enjoyable evening with their family and friends

·        Asha Rajak is working hard to get financial donations from different financial institutions to meet the expenses of the award ceremony.

·        Thomas Saras informed about Canada Periodical Fund for Business Innovation for Digital Periodicals and Print Periodicals. This is the first year that digital periodical are eligible for the funds under Canada Periodical Fund. This is a great progress due to the persistent hard work of NEPMCC. Thomas Saras reminded the members that digital periodicals should apply under the Canada Periodical Fund, no later than July 4, 2011.

·        President Thomas Saras informed that the proposed economic survey submitted earlier to the Federal Government is in the final steps and now members need to participate in big numbers to make it a huge success.  This project is going to enrich our powers.  We have to demonstrate the power of ethnic media through this survey. He informed the members the proposed funding for the economic survey has been approved by the ministry and the questionnaire which has been prepared by Seneca College has been sent to all the members.

·        The office of the President has already sent the questionnaire via email to all the members of NEPMCC along with reminders. President urged members to cooperate and respond to the economic survey undertaken by NEPMCC as it was in their own interest to participate. Only twelve members have participated in the survey so far. President Thomas Saras expressed disappointment at the rate of responses by the members. Students may be employed to call ethnic media outlets individually, if the responses continued to be poor. Employing students will also have an additional cost to the organization.  Seneca College will receive the responses of the survey and tabulate and present the findings of the survey in a report.  To make a conclusive report based on the findings, participation in large number is required. Based on this report of the economic survey, The National Ethnic Press and Media Council will prepare a three day convention and seminar for the members of the sector next year in 2012 and apply for Government funds accordingly. This national convention in turn will provide to all of the members the important information and education about the Canadian Laws on Journalism. The questionnaire which was prepared by Seneca College was designed to make a decision about the nature of the educational material the Seneca College should prepare for the three day national convention. Besides this we are working with the government in order to get some benefits for the members of NEPMCC. In order to be successful we have to show to authorities that most of our members are professionals and they are contributing to Canadian economy. This will only be possible if the members participate in large numbers.

·        This year NEPMCC organized the Annual Ethnic Press festival Exhibition from May 9 – May 15 at the rotunda of City Hall. The exhibition was a grand success. More than 700 friends, guests and visitors attended the ceremonies of the official opening of the 5th annual exhibition of the ethnic press at the rotunda of the Toronto City Hall. Among the attendees were members of the diplomatic missions in Toronto, delegations from the Toronto and York Region Police Services, also from NDD, the City of Toronto, members of Parliament and also members of the official opposition of the provincial legislature assembly, and more than 300 publishers and staff. The Hon. Eric Hoskins, minister of Citizenship and immigration of Ontario, was the guest speaker. Two hundred ethnic publications in about sixty eight different languages were participated in this year’s exhibition. The first full day of the exhibition alone, more than two thousand visitors went over the exhibits and got an idea of the work the ethnic publications are doing in Canada. The exhibition was very popular among different sections of society starting from Government officials, school students and even tourist who visited during the exhibition.

·        President mentioned special thanks to Asha Rajak, Ahmed Shah Hotaki, Ned Blair, Saad Alsafar, Suleiman Guven, Liz Philbert, Luba Cherny, Dr. Bikram Lamba, Sandeep and Rakhee Prabhakar and other volunteers for their special efforts during the exhibition. Mr. Saras also expressed his thanks to Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and to Hon. Eric  Hoskins, Minister, for their financial support towards the exhibition. He also thanked the WebPrinting Co and  its President Patrick Callaghan fro their financial support as well as Canadian Brazilian Coffee and its president Jack Kyriazakos, and the Family of George Seretis.

·        NEPMCC Awards. In October we will organize our Awards ceremony. Effective from January 1st until 31st of May 2011, members were informed to download nomination form 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. . For the awards, we are planning to reach various Ministries to sponsor awards for each award recipient and category.  Members were earlier asked to send the completed nomination form to either Dr. Tajdolati or to the office of the President. 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.

·        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 an  exhibition of the ethnic press for 18 days.  Members were urged to ask their local businesses to sponsor some prizes which are going to be announced through lucky draws for the people who visit our pavilion. (August 19- September 5,) There will be various prizes for the draw depending on the sponsorship. Srimal Abeyawardene suggested of advanced publicity for the event. We are going to participate 18 days at CNE. The Prime Minister may inaugurate the opening ceremony of the exhibition, or in his inability a minister of his cabinet.

·        Word on the Street. Besides Toronto, this year we are going also to organize this exhibition in Vancouver on the same day with Toronto.

New Business:

·        Motion :

·        “The Board authorizes the administration to proceed with the application for funds from  the Canadian Heritage for the expenses of the CNE, Awards Ceremony, The Word on the Street festivals in Toronto, Vancouver and other Canadian cities, as well as for other promotional projects/events for the community”

·         Irene Keroglidis, moved the above motion in the floor William Doyle Marshall, seconded it. The motion was carried.

New Member- Arif Ahmed – Jogajog Bengali Weekly

The chair hoped that the new member would be an active participant in the organization.

 Adjournment: Ahmed Shah Hotaki moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, Irene Keroglidis seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 10:30 pm. The next meeting would take place on July 11, 2011