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Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on June 8, 2015, at Committee Room No 2, City Hall

Present:


Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Jatin  N.
Mohammad Tajdolati
Jacques varbedian
Suleyman Guven
Ricky Castellvi
Sandeep Prabhakar
Sandeep Prabhakar
Ishan Ghazarian
Adu Raudkavi
Nishamtha Dan
Thavapdan k.k.
Ali (Omid) Mahmoub
A. Rostamijam
Sri Rajan
Sujanthy Rajan
Teshome Woldeamanuel
Joe Marh
Ranjit Bhaskal
Bill Whittaler
Sam Pane
C. Senthi
Janusz Niemczyk
Shahidul Mintu
Paul Nguyen
Sonia. Lozonovsky
Oliver Petrhonski
Raffi Der Boghossian
Rebecca Elming
Jonathan Annobil
Emmanuel Ayiku
Ernesto Donan
Saadia Wasim
Ned B;air
John Saraidaris
Sinan Copar
Patrick Long
Andrea Horuhk
Nina Zaslavsky
Andrea Micieli
Hermie Garcia
Nila Astroga Garcia
John Delacourt
Tatyana Lorffier-Vulpe
Branavan  Kailalakiri
Ahmed Hotaki
Bill Blair
Eve Adam
Onik Nazamani
Raffi Der Boghossian
Sumanthy
Aaron Berhane
Kathy L. Lin
John Saraidaris
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Ned Blair
Luba Cherny
Srimal Abeyewardene
John Saraidaris
Muhammed Enad
Charles deva
Pudhuai Raman
Venthan Ramang
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia.
Mujibor Rahman
Dumitru Poposcu
Mehmet Onayli
Suhan Ali Shunbill
Tharmasri Rajan
Susan Donan
Saad Alsafar
Ahmed Hotaki
Hai-Tien Lin
Nagamany Legendrinligan
Ahilakuwaran Multhukymaracamey
Luba Cherny
Srimal Abewardene
Logan Logendraliugan

Agenda


1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Report of the President.
4. Presentation by Andrea Horwath leader of Ontario NDP
5. Presentation by Bill Blair Nomination Candidate for Liberal Party of Canada for the riding of Scarborough Southwest.
6. Presentation by Eve Adams – Nomination Candidate for Liberal Party of Canada for the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence
7. New Business
8. Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mr. Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion to approve the agenda. Maria Saras- Voutsinas seconded it. The motion was carried

 

Minutes of the previous meeting:


Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Maria Saras-Voutsinas seconded it.  The motion was carried.

President’s Report/Discussions:

President Thomas Saras announced this year the ethnic press festival which took place on the week of May 3- May 10 with the opening ceremony on Monday May 4 at the rotunda of City Hall was a huge success. The opening ceremony took place to mark the “World Press Freedom Day” in solidarity with the journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty last year and all the others in jails in the various country of the world, they are guilty for serving the international public by informing them correctly and responsibly, the president said and added that being a journalist in not a crime, it is an honor to inform the public. The event was attended by many dignitaries from all levels of government. NEPMCC hosted a grand reception at the rotunda of the City Hall with full dinner and wine along with spectacular live entertainment. More than 350 members with their family participated in the celebrations. The event was very successful.
President Thomas Saras reminded the members that the nomination for this year’s annual awards will close on June 30. No nominations will be accepted after that date.  He also urged members to pay the annual membership fee if they have not done so by now as it helps the council carry out various projects during the year, which benefits all members of the ethnic media industry. Motion: Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion that members who are not in good standing and not paid the membership fee cannot avail the privilege of services from the Office of the President of NEPMCC. Jonathan Annobil seconded it. The motion was unanimously carried.

The President informed the members that some applications for funding have been rejected as the said publications were not clearly indicating about the writers of their articles. To this context the President suggested the need for a special information session for all members. President travelled to Ottawa to meet with the officials of the department of Canadian Heritage in order to express the grievances of the members of NEPMCC. He had a constructive meeting with the officials of Canadian Heritage. The president said that he hopes that the department will introduce changes for the coming years.

Due to PanAm games – there will be no meeting in the month of July.

For the same reason the president asked for authorization to prepare the August 10th meeting at the Marriott Downtown (Eaton Centre) hotel, as the city hall will be occupied by the Parapam games. Authorization for the expense was granted.

The organization will also participate at the annual CNE exhibition in Toronto from Friday August 21 to Monday September 7, 2015. The president was authorized to take care for this project and also he authorized to cover from the treasury of the organization the necessary expense for the participation.

Canada Day Dinner tickets were distributed for nominal fee of $20 per ticket.
Motion: Janus Raudkavi brought a motion that all expenses of the President in his line of duty for the NEPMCC be covered by the treasury of the organization, supposedly there are funds available. The motion was seconded by Mila Garcia and was carried unanimously.

Presentation by Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario NDP


Maria Saras Voutsinas introduced Hon. Andrea Horwath to the council.

Andrea Horwath thanked NEPMCC for the invite to discussions.
“Ethnic Media plays a crucial role for communities”.  I am here to answer your questions. I hope this meeting helps to build up the relationship in the months and years to come. Following her brief presentation she candidly answered a wide variety of questions on a number of topics from sale of Hydro One and other Government Assets, loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, physical curriculum in Public Schools.
Janus, Rakhee Prabhakar, Suleiman Guven, Raffi Boghossian and other members participated in the roundtable discussions and raised important issues mentioned above.

 

Presentation by Bill Blair Liberal Party of Canada.

Bill Blair thanked NEPMCC for the invite. He acknowledged the role of ethnic media.
After retirement as Toronto Police Chief I intend to work for public in a different capacity. “I am running for nomination from Liberal Party from Scarborough Southwest” said the former Toronto Police Chief. As his federal Liberal nomination campaign for Scarborough Southwest enters its final week, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair sat down with members of the National Ethnic Press Media Council of Canada on Monday night to discuss a wide range of community issues including economic development, diversity and inclusiveness. Local Liberals will choose who will be on the federal ballot for the riding on Saturday, June 13th at 1 pm, at the R.H. King Academy, 3800 St. Clair Avenue East in Scarborough."

Suleiman Guven, Jonathan Annobil, Janus, Rakhee Prabhakar, Janus Raudkavi, Emmanuel Aikyu, Mila Garcia, Dr. Tajdolati and other members asked questions on a wide variety of issues such as Diversity, Job Creation, Youth Issues, Specifics concerning the riding of Scarborough Southwest, Bill C-51 and other pertinent issues.
Thomas Saras thanked Bill Blair for his time.

Presentation by Eve Adams Liberal Party Nomination Candidate for the riding Eglinton-Lawrence


Maria Saras Voutsinas introduced Eve to the council.
She thanked to be in the invited. Acknowledged the work of ethnic media. Multicultural media plays a bridge in a manner mainstream media cannot.
Following are the quote of her speech.
“I’m so very pleased to join such a vital part of the Canadian media landscape.

Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, are the very heart of Canadian multiculturalism. Just look at Eglinton-Lawrence, where I am currently running for the Liberal Party’s nomination. The most recent census data shows that over a third of residents speak another language other than English as their mother tongue. It’s a beautiful mosaic. As my leader, Justin Trudeau recently put it, “Toronto represents the most hopeful vision of what their future could look like. Here we are blessed to call it our present.” Information may be prevalent in the internet age, but is journalists such as yours that fulfill the important role of sorting the wheat from the chaff; curating; pulling out the important information which keeps people in communities across the city and the country informed about what is happening in their own backyard and also what is happening back in the countries from which they’ve come. Multicultural media builds bridges between communities the way that traditional outlets might not. I am so much more aware of what is going on in other communities when I open up one of your papers or tune in to your programming. We grow stronger, together as Canadians, when we know more about one another. Building diversity is essential.

Canada’s immigration system used to be an international leader. We welcomed the world’s fearless emigrants who hoped to build a better life in Canada. Like my parents, immigrants are courageous. There are so many success stories – like my friend Rose. Rose came to me a few years ago with a serious family matter for which she needed help from the federal government. Me and my office worked diligently to get it resolved and we were so happy when it was. Rose moved to North York while we were still resolving her case, so I was pleased to meet her again when I announced my candidacy for the Liberal Party’s nomination in Eglinton-Lawrence. This mother, student and chef is making an incredible difference in her community and I’m glad to have helped. When we put together all the stories like Rose’s – all those people who have come to Canada and are helping make our communities better we have a lot of stronger cities and a stronger Canada. Unfortunately, earlier this month we learned that Canada dropped out of the top 5 countries for the first time in the Migration Integration Policy Index. The authors of the study pointed specifically at the failure of the Conservative government to reunify families. Since 2007 wait times for family reunification have skyrocketed. Wait times for spouses and children have increased more than 70%.  Wait times to sponsor parents and grandparents are up an astounding 500%. Our reputation as a country is suffering internationally as a result
The Liberal Party has called for major changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program as well. Our critic for Citizenship and Immigration, the Honourable John McCallum proposed a motion last spring to:
(a) establish a mandatory complaint tracking system;
(b) ensure compulsory and regular workplace audits;
(c) require mandatory disclosure of investigations into abuses of the program
(d) require mandatory disclosure of federal employer compliance reviews; and
(e) establish a monthly disclosure regime that indicates the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada by (i) region, (ii) National Occupation Classification code, (iii) employer.

“Earlier this year I called on the Conservative government to do more to provide for those who are coming to Canada to provide a better life for their families. I’ve heard too often at the doors and at community events about those who are feeling abandoned as they wait to be deported after working so hard to build up a strong Canada. These men and women in communities across the GTA support families back home with their earnings and now are about to be sent away – unable to see their extended families and friends here for at least 4 years. Canada used to offer strong pathways to citizenship and should at least allow those temporary foreign workers who have applied for permanent residence to stay through the process and have their work permits extended. In return for their help to build a stronger Canada, we have to offer a better chance to more fully join the communities these women and men are helping to create. We have promised that a Liberal government will make the tax system fairer and cut the middle class tax rate by seven percent.
That’s a $3 billion tax cut for those who need it the most. We will ask the wealthiest Canadians to pay a little more so the middle class can pay less. Liberals will cancel Mr. Harper’s income splitting and other tax breaks for the wealthy – but not the senior’s income splitting. Also, for families, our plan will provide one bigger, fair, tax-free monthly cheque to help families with the high cost of raising their kids. Take a  typical two parent family, with two kids, earning $90,000 per year will get $490 tax-free every month
With the Liberal plan, a typical one parent family, with one child, earning $30,000 per year will get $533 tax-free every month. With Mr. Harper, the same family only receives around $440 after-tax.

Huge thanks to Thomas Saras (President of this auspicious group of learned journalists). Mr. Saras does an incredible job in promoting and providing a voice to so many communities. The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada is a vital institution and it is in great part because of his leadership”.
Janus, Neel Nanda, Suleiman Guven and other members asked questions on a wide range of issues from Immigration, Family Reunification, Tax Reforms and others. Eve Adams candidly answered all questions and committed to keep working for the betterment of Canadian Society.

New Business


Tickets for Canada Day were distributed during the meeting.

Adjournment:


Mohammad Tajdolati moved a motion to adjourn the meeting Srimal Abeyawardene seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair President Thomas Saras adjourned the meeting at 10:00 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place August 10, 2015 at Marriott Downtown (Eaton Center) Hotel, at the meeting room Carlton Theater from 6:00 to 9:30 PM.