Minutes
of the monthly meeting held at Queen’s Park on April 10, 2006
Present:
Thomas
Saras
Sremal
Abeyawardene
Clyde McNeil
Hassan
Zerehi
Dr.
Lamba
Ahmed
Shah Hotaki
William
Doyle Marshall
Jai
Maharaj
Emmanuel
Ayiku
Emily
Mills
Aaron
Behrane
Taha
Hassiani
Iraj
Emad
Mohammad
Tajdolati
Danielle
Zhu
Trifon
Haitas
Sameylenko
Elvira
Shamroke
Saeedi
Massod
Masaadi
Tanas
Jovanovski
Neel
Nanda
Teshome
Woldeammanuel
Shida
Wolsa
Maryan
Aghvani
Hasan
Yilmaz
Rahim
Moton
Adnan
Hasmi
Aris
Babikian
John
Saraidaris
Luba
Cherny
Emily
Mills
Gerald
Paul
Absent
Kenrick
Bobb
Elizabeth
Wolski
Cindy
Gu
Mona Feng
Special
Guests:
Toronto
Police Recruiting- Delegation.
David
Miller, Mayor of Toronto
Agenda:
Opening Remarks by the Chair
Presentation by Toronto Police. (Superintendent Peter Sloly,
Staff Sergeant Peter Ngyuen, Sergeant Terri James)
Discussions with Mayor David Miller
End
of meeting
Opening
Remarks by the Chair:
Thomas Saras initially chaired the meeting and welcomed the members to the meeting.
Presentation
by Toronto Police Employment Unit.
Staff
Superintendent Peter Sloly and the rest of his team made a presentation,
followed by roundtable discussions. Thomas Saras, William –Doyle
Marshall, Dr. Lamba, Srimal Abeyewardene, Adnan Hashmi, Clyde McNeil, and
other members participated in the discussion.
The following is the summary of the presentations and discussions
-
· Toronto Police is in the process of massive recruitment.
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· Toronto Police will hire 493 new officers from the period December 2005 –December 2006.
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· Toronto Police should reflect the face, gender and all aspects of the community.
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· Toronto Police is facing stiff competition from the Department of Defense, RCMP, Peel Police and other GTA Police agencies in its recruiting process as they are looking to get the best talent pool from Toronto.
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· Toronto Police would engage ethnic media in the recruitment drive to get the message effectively in the community.
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· Toronto Police intends to be the “Employer of Choice”.
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· Toronto Police would provide with stories and other resources to the ethnic publications in order to encourage ethnic youths to join the police force.
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· Recruitment brochures were handed to the members of the NEPMCC.
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· Toronto is the 4th largest municipal service in North America, giving more chances to its personnel to advance.
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· The barriers for promotion of ethnic origin officers are down and the doors for advancement are wide open.
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· Toronto Police uniform means professionalism, humanity and respecting human values.
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· Members of the NEPMCC were invited to the graduating ceremony of new constables on May 5 in Nathan Phillips Square.
Thomas Saras and the Chair of
the meeting Clyde McNeil thanked the guests for their time and promised
all possible help in their recruitment drive to attract the best possible
ethnic talent into the force.
Discussions
with the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller.
The
Chair welcomed His Worship, David Miller and Don Wanaga, his Director of
Communications to the meeting.
. There were discussions on a wide range of topics. Many members participated in the discussion. The summary of the presentation and roundtable discussions is as follows:
-
· David Miller is proud to be the mayor of Toronto and the covering of the city by the ethnic media reflects that pride.
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· Mayor David Miller is carrying on his drive to beautify the city.
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· Entrepreneurial spirit shown by the ethnic press is admirable.
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· The Mayor has sanctioned an office for the NEPMC in city hall, which would be operational by fall of 2006.
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· “ The City of Toronto Act” will give the truth a whole new dimension to the city.
.
Thomas Saras and the chair
thanked and congratulated David Miller on the City of Toronto Act and also
thanked him for providing the much needed office space in City Hall.
End
of Meeting:
Srimal Abeyewardene moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Masood Manzoorzadeh seconded it. It was carried by all. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:45 p.m. The next meeting would take place on May 08, 2006 at Queen’s Park.
