Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on April 10, 2016, at City Hall Committee room # 2

Present:

Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Jonathan Annobil
Ricky Castellvi
Dirk Tissera
Michelle Tishare
Maria Swietorzecki
Mohammad-Barger Samimi
Suleyman Guven
Rosemary Sandrler
Elizabeth Muzak
Nishammna Dow
Andrey Mazuruc
Mohammad Tajdolati
Ahmad Rostamijan
ASli Mahboob
Tom Bryant
Sinan Capar
Ranjit Wicks
Ahmed Hotaki
Sandeep Prabhakar
Rakhee Prabakar
L. Pathmanathan
Marek Goldoyn
Tharmasrira Jan Thirun
Suhanthy Tharmasiran
Srimal Abeyewardene
Boris Issaev
Alex Bertyand
Ned Blair
Susana Donan
Ernesto Donan
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia
Jacques Varbedian
Adu Raudkavi
Teshome Worldeamanuel
John Saraidaris
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Ahmed Hotaki
Dumitru Popescu

Agenda

1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Report of the President
4. Presentation by Team Parkbus
5. New Business
6. 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. Sandeep Prabhakar seconded it. The motion was carried

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Sandeep Prabhakar moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Ahmed Shah Hotaki seconded it.  The motion was carried.

President’s Report/Discussions:

Thomas Saras also reminded the members to renew their membership this year in order to enjoy the benefits and privileges of being a member of NEPMCC. He expressed disappointed that very few members have renewed their membership.
Thomas Saras mentioned and reminded the members that nomination for this year’s annual award has begun and will close on June 30 2016. He emphasized that no nominations would be accepted after the deadline.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that the proposed ethnic press freedom week at City Hall would not be held this year. This year the event was to take place in TD Centre but very few members confirmed their participation. And since PM was to be the main speaker this year – a better participation was expected as PMO needs the name of all members attending for security clearance from RCMP. He however hoped that NEPMCC would be able to invite PM Justin Trudeau during the inaugural of the Ethnic Press exhibition at the CNE on August 19 or August 20. Thomas Saras suggested that members interested in attending the event should conform in advance via email to his office for security clearance and passes for CNE.
Thomas Saras informed the members about communication, he received form Niagara Hotels. He mentioned that his office is in talks to arrange a trip to Niagra Falls for the members of NEPMCC. He asked members interested in attending the meeting at Niagra Falls to email the number of guests attending the event.
Thomas Saras proposed to form a committee to organize similar trips to London and North Bay. In this regard he suggested forming a committee under Tajdolati and Raffi Boghossian.
President Thomas Saras read a financial statement of NEPMCC as prepared by the accountant o NEPMCC.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that he was in touch with Heritage Canada to build a website for digital publishing and Heritage Canada would provide start-up funds. The Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage recently launched a pilot project to encourage and support the development of digital periodicals The CPF will provide up to $5,000 in start-up funding to help aspiring or emerging digital publishers and other creative entrepreneurs launch or lay the groundwork for a periodical that will be uniquely accessible through a digital platform.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that there would be meeting with the Chief of Canadian Air Force on April 22 at City Hall from 9:30 -11:30 A.M. Members interested in attending the event should email the office of the President of NEPMCC.
Motion- A moment of sincere silence in memory of former Mayor Rob Ford. Motion was unanimously passed and moment of silence was observed by all present in memory of former Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford.
Motion- A motion was passed unanimously to honour a two times award recipients with lapel pin instead of medals at this year’s annual awards

Presentation by Parkbus Team - Alex Z. Berlyand and Boris Issaev

Parkbus is a non-profit initiative providing express bus service to key outdoor destinations in Ontario - Algonquin, Killarney, Grundy Lake Provincial Parks as well as Bruce Peninsula National Park and Tobermory.
Parkbus was created in 2010 as a private initiative by a group of outdoor enthusiasts, who wanted to make outdoor destinations in Ontario accessible by public transportation. They started small with a pilot project to connect Toronto and Algonquin Provincial Park on a few select weekends. After meeting with Algonquin Park's team and working out the details, we partnered with Hammond Transportation to make the service a reality in the summer of 2010.

After a successful 2010 season, Parkbus became a project of Transportation Options (T.O.), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering sustainable tourism and transportation in Ontario. Since 1992, T.O. has worked collaboratively to research, develop and promote new initiatives that are integrated, environmentally sound, healthy, service oriented and focused on improving the experience of users. Other projects of Transportation Options include award-winning Bike Train Initiative and the Ontario By Bike.

The Parkbus Team also informed about the various programs that they conduct like “Learn to Camp”

Many members inquired on the programs run by Parkbus and participated in the round table discussion.

There was also a discussion of arranging a custom trip for NEPMCC members in the future.

New Business:

Rosemary Sadlier informed the council about Canadian Black History Summit which would take place on April 16, 2016. The Summit takes place on Saturday, April 16, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Church of Latter Day Saints, 95 Melbert Rd., at the corner of Rathburn and Centennial Park in Etobicoke. Top genealogy and Black history experts from across the country will be taking part in the first Canadian Black History Summit to share information and trends that affects the community. Organizers of the Summit are excited about a recently announced website by the U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau Project, which contains 1.5 million digitized images and the names of four million searchable records of Blacks following the U.S. Civil War.“This data will be especially important in Canada because of the ties to those who came to Canada through the Underground Railroad,” said Rosemary Sadlier, former president of the Ontario Black History Society. She encouraged all members to participate in this summit.
Mareck Goodyn invited members for the European Day on May 2nd at Courtyard by Marriot Hotel, Downtown Toronto. This event is to celebrate the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in 1950 which commemorates the beginning of the European Union.
This year, the European Union Delegation is also marking 40 years
of its presence in Canada.

Adjournment: