NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND
MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA
MINUTES OF THE MEETING of 13th of February, 2006
AT THE MAIN LEGISLATIVE BUILDING committee Room #2,
QUEENS
PARK, TORONTO, ONTARIO.
PRESENT
:
Thomas
S. saras
Clyde
McNeil
Bikram
Lamba, Dr.
Ahmed
Shah Hotaki
Iraj
Emad
Mehrdad
Arejounoyad
Tanas
Jovanovski
Hasan
Yilmaz
D.
Ubale, Dr
Kenrick
Boob, Secretary
Teshome
Woldeamannuel
Azamuir
Hussain
Massood
Mashad
Mohamed
Tajdolati
Srimal
Abeyewardene
Naga
Lohrndrily
Jeffrey
James
Maryam
Aghvani Senior V-P
William
Doyle Marshall
Pooyan
Tahabaei
Tania
Nuttall
Tryfon
Haitas
Abdur
Rahim
Valery
Romano
John
Saraidaris
Neil
Armstrong
Stephanie
Williams
Emily
Mills
Max
Wynter Senior VP
Anne
Dawson Controller
Danielle
Zhu
Roland
Isoj
Hermie
Garcia
Absent:
Neel
Nanda (Out of Canada)
Aris
Babikian
The Chairman
Mr. Clyde McNeil called the meeting and welcomed all the members.
The
President Thomas S. Saras gave his report;
Mr. Saras
said that some sort of break down in the communications was created from
the fact that some members change their own emails therefore they are not
receiving the e-mails of the organization. He told the members every one
who does not receive e-mails to give the correct e-mail address.
The
president explained the raw deal the Ottawa Civil Servants gave the
Council following several meetings and discussions held which failed to
reach an agreement or provide any Federal advertising. “We done almost
everything to our powers and we received assurances time and again that
the ads are coming, we are still waiting for them.” He went on to state
the association with poor coffers spent over $2500 for meeting halls and
food to meet the responsible Civil Servants from Ottawa who failed to give
a valid reason as to why the members of the National Ethnic Press and
Media Council of Canada were not given Federal Advertising. Further the
president expressed his dissatisfaction with the group of people from PWC
who were responsible for the program. “There were moments that I though
they tried to rupture the unity of the organization for reasons that I am
unable to know,” he said. “My question therefore is if and how much we
must trust them for the future under this circumstances” he added. The
President was a very disappointed man as he traveled to Ottawa with other
members several times in his efforts to strike a deal; “We done almost
everything to our ability and we showed our good will and intensions for
cooperation, instead we experienced unwillingness and a dose of refusal
from them and also the names they accepted in the new list in the vast
majority are from members who accepted to pay 30% to private agencies.
This is the reason I am asking an explanation from Cossette Media and the
Department of Public Works.”
He explained
that the Liberal Government and the Civil Servants in Ottawa bluffed the
association promising the Federal Advertising but never delivered.
He said this
was a sad state of affairs. However, there was hope with the new
government of Prime Minister Steven Harper. Mr. Saras said that he made
already contact with the PMO and the leader of the NDP and he was
expecting to meet them both the beginning of April. For this reason
explained he was prepared to travel to Ottawa with a number of members of
the board willing to go with him.
The
president also said that he received assurances from the PMO that new
directions will be issued to PWC for the handling of the affairs of the
Ethnic Press and that this Government was ready to ask them to eliminate
the private agencies from the list of the recipients of federal
advertisement. There are people in the Prime Minister’s staff, explained
Mr. Saras that I know and I trust them and I am confident that the new
Government of Mr. Harper will pay attention to our plea and
therefore may have a positive plan to assist the sector of the Ethnic
Press. At the same time I also trust Jack Layton and the NDP that they
will support our just cause.
Earlier Mr.
Saras forwarded a ‘Thank You’ card sent by Liberal Member of Federal
Parliament the Hon. Jim Karagannis to the Ethnic Press, following his
election victory with a massive majority of over 20,000 votes and the
support extended by the Council.
The next
matter that came up was how the annual awards are been awarded. In this
case a unanimous decision was taken by the membership to appoint our
Ombudsman the learned man Dr. Ubale,to give a full report at the next
sessions of the Council.
Dr. Ubale
accepted. At this point Srimal Abeyewardene pointed out an independent
panel should be appointed to decide who receives these awards. Thomas
Saras, reminded that there is a special committee of Awards and Honours
under the chairmanship of Dr Ubale and it is up to the members of this
committee to accept new members.
There was
good news from President Thomas Saras that the Ethnic Press will shortly
get a permanent office at the City Hall. It was stated Mayor David Miller
will address on this matter at the next meeting.
Mr. Saras
said the office has to be equipped with furniture, computers and telephone
facilities as well as with an individual to serve the needs of the
Council. He said this office would be a permanent space for the Council.
At this
stage accounts report was submitted. He said all the accounts were paid
and the monies were collected from private donations mainly of friends of
the President. It is very important that in the future if each member of
each community collects some donations so that we would have the minimum
of $20,000 required for the business of the organization each year. The
president also added that he would request the Provincial Government to
help by providing some financial assistance to our organization. We have
VP finance, said the president, yet nothing comes from his office except
criticism.
The question
of private media companies were taking 30% of the advertisements received
by members was mentioned.
Mr. Saras
said this was not acceptable as nobody has the authority to negotiate on
behalf of the sector to keep money for his company.
It was also
mentioned the Council Website receiving over 2000 inquirers per month.
Senior Vice President Max Wynter, complained that there were too
many awards given away each year.
At this
stage Dr Ubale made a statement about awards. He said in the past we were
very liberal giving away awards. He said in the future we must limit the
number of awards and decide criteria and we should consider only
“enormous contributions made by each and every member of the Ethnic
Press and the leadership of the various communities”. According to Dr.
Ubale: “ Nobody should feel you have been let down if you fail to
receive an award at a certain time. Always you can try again.”
He said
there should be no political interference and all nominations should have
a full dossier on the merit and strictly timetable He said he will chair
the new committee in order to change the whole nomination process. The
house voted unanimously requesting Dr Ubale give a full report at the 13
of March 2006 meeting. Dr Ubale asked the members to submit to him ideas
regarding the development of the new rules by February the 28th,
2006.
Due to the
fact that the special committee of the organization to advise the PWC was
inactive until today and only one individual without jurisdiction was
making contact, the President suggested a reorganization of this
committee, the motion accepted and the new members effective immediately
voted :
Clyde McNeil
Massood
Mansoorsadeh
Luba
Cherny
Shrimal
Abeyewardene
William
Doyle Marshall and
Dr. Lamba
Mr. Thomas
S. Saras, remains ex officio member of this committee as well as any other
else. The members of the new committee should come together as soon as
possible in order to organize themselves.
A second
committee for the preparation of the annual book of the organization has
been elected and new dates have been set for the preparation of the book,
for June of 2007.
Kenrick Boob
Srimal
Abeyewardene
Alamgir
Hussain
Pooyan
Tabatabaei
Maryam
Aghvani
Bikram
Lamba.
Jeffrey
Jiang, from Epoch Times addressed the meeting asking the support of the
members for problems facing the papers and the reporters as they
continually victimized in China and the USA.
He was
referred to Senior VP Max Wynter, responsible for policy matters to look
into their situation and address it further.
Massood
Mashad,made a comment that we need a funding committee so all the work
does not rest on one person.
A motion was
passed that the President and Treasurer should go ahead and write a cheque
for our participation to Word on The Street Festival.
Massood
Mashad, insisted that we do have enough plans for the year 2006 and
all we need is to confirm and make them work properly.
Kenrick Bobb,
said that for the New Year he wished to see the meetings be used more
effectively for the furtherance of the Council and its members.
We should
set aside that time to work on the business and hand and cut back on the
many guests we receive during the monthly meetings, and also we shall keep
the punctuality of the business of the meetings.
Dr. Ubale
suggested that the President could e-mail his report and if there are any
important points they can be discussed at the meeting.
Max Wynter
said that he is willing to chair a meeting for ½ hour from 8.30 to
discuss policy issues.
Clyde McNeil
mentioned that he was sending editorials to the president in hopes of
discussions but nothing materialized. Thomas Saras, commented that this
was a lovely idea. Was put to vote accepted unanimously and agreed to
start from the next meeting.
Clyde
McNeil, mentioned that the questionnaire by Prof. John Miller of the
Ryerson University on behalf of the Canadian Heritage is being circulated
and should be answered as soon as possible.
Kenrick
Boob, the Secretary of the Organization announced that he will be leaving
the country on March 1st for urgent family business and should
be away for a period of one or two months, during this period he will be
unable to attend the meetings but he is naming as his proxy the President,
for any decision.
At this
point a motion was moved to adjourn the business of the meeting until
March the 13th. The motion carried.
(Compiled
by Srimal Abeyewardene and Kenrick Bobb)
