Minutes
of the monthly meeting held at Queen’s Park on May 09, 2005
Present:
Thomas Saras
Srmial
Abeyawardene
Neel Nanda
Maxwell Wynter
Clyde McNeil
Hassan
Zerehi
Anne Dawson
Kenrick Bobb
Danielle Zhu
B. Ubale
Dominique
Leval
Ahmed
Mohamed
Ahmed Shah
Hotaki
Marek J.
Cooldyn
William
Doyle Marshall
Jai Maharaj
Emmanuel
Ayiku
Iraj Emad
Majid
Mirjohari
Emilly Mills
Naid Blair
Mohamed
Taljolati
Cindy Gu
Aaron
Behrane
Aris
Babikian
John
Saraidaris
Hermie
Garcia
Luba Cherny
Hasan Yilmaz
Tanya Nutal
Absent
Elizabeth
Wolski
Dirk
Tissera
Mona Feng
Agenda
1.
Opening Remarks by the Chair
2.
Minutes of the previous meeting
3.
President’s Report
4.
New Business
5.
End of meeting
The
Chair, Clyde McNeil welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Before
proceeding with the regular business, he asked the recording secretary to
read the minutes of the previous monthly meeting
Minutes
of the Previous Meeting: Kenrick Bobb moved a motion seconded
by Srimal Abeyawardene to approve the minutes of the monthly meeting held
on April 11, 2005. It was carried.
President’s
Report/Discussions:
Thomas
Saras began his report by informing the Council that the roundtable
meeting with Jack Layton, leader of the NDP (in the House of Commons) is
postponed since Jack Layton was away on an official trip in Europe with
the Prime Minister and would return late on Monday May 09, 2005. The
President said he would update the members about the new date of this
roundtable meeting. He said the month of April was very busy and
productive. He told the Council that on April 25, 2005 we met with the
leader of the opposition S. Harper (House of Commons) and on the same
afternoon we met with the Prime Minister. The meeting with the Prime
Minister was arranged on a short notice from Minister Joe Volpe and the
PMO. The President submitted the names of the executive of the NEPMCC to
them. They tried to contact
the executive members by phone and only those members who were reached on
the day before the meeting were confirmed for the meeting with the Prime
Minister on the following day (April 25) at the Royal York Hotel
The
President mentioned that Hon. Joe Volpe, the minister for citizenship and
immigration Canada was also present during the meeting with the Prime
Minister. Around 20 members of the Executive NEPMCC were also present
during the meeting. There were various issues discussed during the
meeting. The members discussed issues facing their respective communities
as well as issues affecting the general public and the ethnic press.
During the meeting the issue of government advertising on ethnic media was
brought up by Srimal Abeyawardene and discussed with the Prime Minister.
Thomas Saras informed the Prime Minister that the Council would later meet
with the Department of Public Works to discuss this issue. The Hon. Joe
Volpe, also expressed interest to be present during the meeting with the
Public Works. During the meeting the Prime Minister promised all possible
help on the issues brought up by the various communities.
Thomas
Saras, informed the Council of the meeting that took place on April 22
with Hon. Bill Graham, who is the federal Minister of National Defense and
was the former External Affairs Minister. During the meeting the Minister
briefed the members of the NEPMCC of the various policies introduced by
his ministry. The Minister mentioned that Department of Defense is
encouraging and recruiting more members from the ethnic communities into
the Canadian armed forces. During this meeting the issue of advertising on
the ethnic media was also brought up and the Minister said due to
budgetary restrictions the Department of Defense is unable to increase
advertising on media for the first fiscal year as the Armed Forces had
other priorities to meet. The minister
hoped that in the next fiscal year the Department of Defense would
be able to allocate more funds on advertising in ethnic media.
Thomas
Saras mentioned that on Saturday April 23, he attended a special session
of the Labour Council and made a presentation on behalf of the Council.
Thomas
Saras, informed the Council that he received an email from the Department
of Public Works to set up a date for a meeting on the ongoing dialogue.
Thomas Saras suggested that the meeting be held in Toronto so that a large
number of the members could attend it. Thomas Saras also suggested that
the meeting be held on a Wednesday or Thursday morning.
Thomas
Saras recommended that the NEPMCC cover the expenses for the boardroom to
be used for the meeting as the department of Public Works is covering the
travelling expenses for its officials. To this effect Max Wynter moved a
motion and Kenrick Bobb seconded it. It was carried by all.
Thomas
Saras, told the Council that on Thursday May 05, he met with the Attorney
General of Ontario. He said that he had very good and open discussion with
the Attorney General. The President urged the Attorney General to include
members of the ethnic communities in the government appointed judiciary
committees. Thomas Saras was also told during the meeting that the Law
Society of Upper Canada would send an invitation to the members of the
ethnic media for an information sharing session that will educate the
readership of the ethnic press to better understand the programs and
various initiatives undertaken by the Law Society.
Thomas
Saras then told the members to submit the names of the individuals, who
will be recognized in the annual function this year.
Discussions/ New Business
Ned Blair
inquired on the kind of preparation the Council does before meeting with
any government representative. Many members contributed their views on the
steps and preparation that needs to be taken before meeting any government
representative. Aris Babikian suggested of writing a suggestion paper
before meeting with any government representative.
Aris
Babikian also suggested that the Armenian Community Centre could be
utilized for hosting the meeting with Public Works Canada
Thomas
Saras recommended keeping the minutes of the meeting with Public Works,
which would be later posted on the web site of the NEPMCC
Dominique
Leval informed the Council that many members have submitted their pictures
and profiles to her for publishing them in the internal directory of the
NEPMCC. She also said that she met with a non- profit group in the peel
region that serves the communities in that region and wondered whether the
NEPMCC could get involved with the group for any future endeavor.
Dominique
Leval asked for suggestions on how the Francophone publications could be
integrated with the Council, since there are various ethnic communities in
Canada who speak and communicate in French.
Thomas
Saras suggested that Dominique Leval approach the French publications
inside and outside of Quebec that serve the multi ethnic communities and
invite them to join the Council in an effort to organize the industry.
Iraj Emad
volunteered to contact the members by phone and confirm their
participation and attendance before any important meeting with any
external agency.
Ahmed
Mohammed informed the council that he met with Max Wynter on April 18 to
discuss the role of his committee.
Emily
Mills passed around copies of the latest student magazine from Ryerson
School of Journalism- Ryerson University. She spoke of an event called
honey jam that involves only young female artists and will be held on
August 14. The auditions of this event begin on June 5 and those
interested in publishing it in their entertainment section of the
publication can do so to encourage female artists in Canada.
Hermie
Garcia told the council that PEN Canada have also joined the movement to
take concrete actions against journalist killed over the last few years in
Philippines.
Srimal
Abeyawardene informed the Council that a journalist was recently killed in
Sri Lanka, he would draft the statement condemning it and submit it to
Maxwell Wynter, Senior VP in charge of Public Policy.
The chair
of the meeting Clyde McNeil made a pitch that the Liberal Party of Canada
advertises with the NEPMCC and as soon as he gets any response in this
matter, he will inform the President.
He
informed the Council that he would be interviewing the police chief of
Toronto, Bill Blair and he would like to invite the police chief to one of
the monthly meetings if the members agree on his idea. The Council
welcomed his idea and agreed on his suggestion.
Clyde
McNeil suggested the Council review the constitution of the NEPMCC to
recommend the necessary amendments if required. In this regard he moved a
motion to establish a committee that will review the constitution in the
coming months. Kenrick Bobb seconded it and was seconded by all. The
committee will consist of the following members
Max Wynter
Kenrick
Bobb
Clyde
McNeil
Cindy Gu
Anne
Dawson
Iraj Emad
Ahmed
Mohammed.
End of meeting:
Maxwell
Wynter moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, which was carried by all
The
chair, Clyde McNeil adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. The next meeting
would take place on June 13, 2005, committee room # 2, from 6 to 9 pm, at
Main Legislative building, Queens Park, Toronto.
