Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on July 10, 2017, at Committee Room #2 City Hall.
Present:
Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Rosemary Sadler
Ricky Castellvi
Patrick Long
Daniela Spiralac
Leila Monteiro Lins
Teshome Worleamanuel
Khalid Magram
Isha & Lalit Thanker
Norman Hart
Sandie De Freitas
Sarita Bhatte
Sylvia Wang
Rizea Solis
Nina Arcon
Paul Nguyen
Julia Cosby
Quitterie Hervouet
Iris Gardet- Hardengue
Tom Bijvoet
Helen Li
Kamanam Thambi
Sandeep Prabhakar
Rakhee Prabhakar
Mike Kolosowski
Arif Ahmed
Khalid Magram
Isa Melo
Mohammad-Bagher Samimi
Mohammad Tajdolati, Dr.
Shahidul Islam MIW TV- Bengali Times
Upali Obeyesekere
Hermie Garcia
Mila Astroga Garcia
Ahmed Shah Hotaki
Maria Swietorzeclei
Paulo Meigri
Marek Goldyn
Sodic Gran
Janusz Niemczyk
Yohannes Axalew
Ranjit Wicks
Srimal Abeyewardene
Charles Devasasanam
John Saraidaris
Ernesto Donan
Susana Donan
Kevin Wang.
Agenda
- Welcome Remarks by the chair.
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- Report of the President/Discussions
- Presentation by YMCA of Greater Toronto
- New Members/New Business
- Adjournment
Welcome Remarks by the Chair:
Dr. Tajdolati chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Mareck Goodyn moved a motion to approve the agenda. Ahmad Shah Hotaki seconded it. The motion was carried. .
Minutes of the previous meeting:
Isa Melo moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Khalid Magram seconded it. The motion was carried.
President’s Report/Discussions:
President Thomas Saras 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 only a portion of members have renewed their membership.
President Thomas Saras thanked everyone for the successful celebration of Canada Day. The Canada 150 years celebration was great success and the President acknowledged all the members who participated and contributed financially towards the success of the event. He also expressed disappointment towards members not able to attend despite earlier confirming their participation at the Canada 150 event organized by NEPMCC.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that the first phase of the digital publishing platform has begun from January 2017 and the first phase will be completed by March 2018. He mentioned that the company responsible for the implementation of the Digital Publishing Platform would update 5 websites every month and as a result 60 websites can be migrated every year to the Digital Publishing Platform. He mentioned that the project has been tentatively approved by the Federal Government. With the proposed digital publishing platform, NEPMCC members will be able to publish their content digitally so that it can be consumed by the readers anywhere in the world using their computers and cell phones. This will save the members from maintaining expensive Information Technology (IT) infrastructures that they cannot afford. There were lot of discussions on this project and the President categorically answered all questions on this project posed by the members. He requested members to take advantage of this opportunity and be part of this historic project since there were limited spaces available for enrollment in the first year.
President Thomas Saras informed the members that NEPMCC as all the other years will participate in the Ethnic Press Exhibition at the CNE and will have booth at the CNE from August 18 to September 4. He urged all members to submit three copies among their best edition to the office of the President by August 17. The opening ceremony of the Annual Ethnic Press Exhibition at CNE will likely take place on Sunday August 20, at 1:00 pm followed by reception for the members. To this extend and in order to encourage more members to attend, the President said that for this specific day all our members will have free access to exhibition only by showing their ID as members of the NEPMCC.
President Thomas Saras suggested that a 2 day educational seminar on the digital platform be held on September 23 and September 24, where NEPMCC members from all over Canada would be invited for participation.
Thomas Saras informed the members that nomination for this year’s annual award has close on June 30. This year in celebration of Canada 150 recipients of awards along with members who have served NEPMCC would receive special metal pins.
Motion: Maria Saras Voutsinas brought a motion that NEPMCC will partner in a pilot project with Heritage Canada to hire students from the faculties of journalism as interns by their member publications. The motion was seconded by Isa Melo and unanimously carried by all. This project if approved by the Canadian Heritage will be win-win situations for students who need experience in their field as well publications who need assistance
Presentation by YMCA of Greater Toronto Immigrant Services
The chair welcomed the speakers to make her presentation.
Sarita Bhatta, Sylvia Weng, Pony Huang among other members representing YMCA of Greater Toronto Immigrant Services made a presentation on their mission, vision and areas of work in building healthy communities. The delegation made a detailed presentation on their services such as Language Assessment and Referral Centre, Newcomer Information Centre, Online Pre-Arrival Service etc.
Ahmed Shah Hotaki, Lalit Thakkar, Khalid Magram, Jonathan Annobil and other members asked a wide variety of questions to the delegation following their presentation.
The delegation representing YMCA of Greater Toronto Immigrant Services hoped that readership of NEPMCC members would benefit with the awareness of their programs.
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New Members/ New Business:
Mereck Goodyn introduced Iris Gardet-Hadengue.
Iris Gardet-Hadengue author and performer of “Pardon My French – The Tales of a Parisian Mom in Canada “invited all members to attend her show on July 23 and July 26 in Toronto.
Adjournment: Ahmed Shah Hotaki moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Khalid Magram seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair, Dr Tajdolati adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place on Monday, August 14, 2017 at the City Hall.
