[Main] [About NPMCC] [Forms] [Members] [Editorials].[Archives].[Minutes].

[Ethnic Media] [.Contact] .

 

Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on March 13, 2017, at the Council Chambers City Hall.

Present:

Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Rosemary Sadler
Yohan Byrde
Ricky Castellvi
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Helia Ghazi
Leila Monteiro Lins
TeshomeWorleamanuel
Dimitris Vohaitis
Patrick Lang
Martin Van Denzen
Sandeep Prabakar
Rakhee Prabakar
Mike Kolosowski
KhadijehEbrahimian
Helen Li
Arif Ahmed
Khalid Magram
Isa Melo
Mohammad-Bagher Samimi
Yuri Natchetoi
EugiusaBakchinow
Margaret P. Bonikaska, Dr.
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
Aris Babikian
Janusz Niemczyk
Raffe Der Boghossian
Yohannes Axalew
Ranjit Wicks
Srimal Abeyewardene
Charles Devasasanam
John Saraidaris
Ernesto Donan
Susana Donan
Kevin Wang.

 

Agenda

  1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
  2. Minutes of the previous meeting
  3. Report of the President/Discussions
  4. Elections : The New Board of NEPMCC from March 2017- March 2019
  5. Presentation by Imran Bashir CEO of Apptellect on the Digital Publishing Platform.
  6. New Members
  7. Adjournment

 

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mr. Thomas Saras chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open. Ricky Castellvi moved a motion to approve the agenda. Jonathan Annobil seconded it. The motion was carried. He thanked all the members for attending the meeting despite the weather.

 

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Ricky Castellvi moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting Suleiman Guven 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 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 suggested that the committee established to coordinate with the company responsible for implementing the digital publishing platform project for NEPMCC would later hold educational seminar on the operational working of the platform and educate the members about its benefits The members of this committee are would be, Yuri Natchetoi, Dr.Tajdolati, Eugenia E. Bakchinow,   Maria Saras Voutsinas, Ricky Castellvi, Neel Nanda and Nitu Dahiya.

  • President Thomas Saras suggested that celebrating the freedom of press week in May at Queens Park in collaboration with the Premier of Ontario. The office of the President is in discussion with the office of the Premier to host the event for freedom of press week.

  • President Thomas Saras suggested that NEPMCC should celebrate Canada Day as it is marking the 150th year since the formation of the country. There were suggestions regarding this which would be discussed in the next meeting

  • President Thomas Saras informed the members about the revenue in 2015 and 2016 by reading part of the income statements as received by the controller.

    •

    Elections: The New Board of NEPMCC from March 2017 to March 2019

    President Thomas Saras read out the names of the proposed Board of Directors as received and suggested by the Chief Electoral Officer Dr. Tajdolati.
    The New Board for the period of March 2017, to March 2019 as proposed by the elections committee is:

    Ex Officio Members of the Board:

  • Dr. Mohammad Tajdolati Ph.D. “Humanities and Social Sciences” Ombudsman, Chief Electoral Officer, Chair of the Awards Committee.

  • Maria Voutsinas, B.A. Executive Director and Commissioner For taking Affidavits and administering the oath for the members of the NEPMCC.

    • Members of the Executive:

  • Thomas S. Saras: President, CEO and Chairman of the Board. “Patrides, Review”

  • Susana Donan Alternate President, Senior VP “El Centro” Latino

  • Raffi Der Boghossian, Emeritus Alternate President, Senior VP “TorontoHye” Armenian

  • Sandeep Prabhakar, A..’ Senior VP, Policy and Constitutional Affairs - South Asian

  • Kathy L. Lin, Senior VP, Professional Development - Chinese

  • Neel Nanda, M. Comm. Senior VP, Secretary General - Indian

  • Srimal Abeyewardene Senior VP, Treasurer “Sri Lankan Reporter” - SINGALESE

  • Maria Voutsinas: Senior VP, Business Coordinator, Awards Comm. - Greek

  • Daniela Spirlac Senior Adviser to Executive Board, Events Coordinator - Romanian

    • VICE PRESIDENTS :

  • Ricky Castellvi, VP, Public Relations and Intergovernmental Affairs. Awards - Pilipino

  • Enzo Di Mauro, VP Television and Cinematography - Italian

  • Paul Nguyen, VP, Social Media (New Trends) Vietnamese

  • Margaret Boukovska, VP European Affairs  “GazettaGazetta” - Polish

  • Ranjit Wickramasinghe, VP, Cultural Affairs TV, “Voice of Lanka” - SINGALESE

  • Logan N. Logendralingam, VP, Internal Canadian Affairs -Tamil

  • Hermie Garcia VP,  Human Rights and Free Speech - Philippine

  • Luba Cherny, VP, Cultural Affairs, “Courier” - Russian

  • Mulugeta Zergaber, VP, Photojournalism - Eritrean

  • Saad Alsafar, VP, Free Press and Democracy “Assaha” - Arabic

  • Ahmed Shah Hotaki VP, Special Events Coordinator, “Afghan Post” - Afghan

  • Eugenea E. Bakchinow  VP, Electronic Media - Russian

  • Patrick Long, VP Education and Training - Chinese

  • Dumitru Popescu, VP Print-Membership, “Observatorul” - Romanian

  • Isa Melo, VP  Latin American Membership - Brazilian

  • Mohammad-Bagher Samimi, VP, Free Lance Journalism - Iranian

  • Arif Ahmed, VP Bangladeshi Affairs - Bangladeshi

  • Mieczyslaw Kolosowski Journalists in Exile - Polish

  • Mila A. Garcia  VP,  Humanitarian and Immigration Affairs - Philippine

  • Suleyman Guven VP, Middle East Affairs  “Yeni Hayat” - Turkish/Kurdish

  • Emmanuel  Ayiku  VP, African Affairs  “Ghanaian News” -Ghanaian

  • TeshomeWoldeamanuel VP, Community Outreach “TZTA” -  Ethiopian

  • John S. Saraidaris  VP, Public Image Coordinator/ Editor in Chief - Greek

    • AGENTS GENERAL:


    Quebec

  • Vahakn Karakachian,Co-Chair “the Armenian Horizons” - Armenian
  • Dimitris Yantsulis Co- Chair Public Relations, Comm. Outreach - Greek


    • Manitoba:
  • Helen Wang  Chair  “Manitoba Chinese Tribune” - Chinese


    • Alberta:
  • Phillip  Lam Chair “Vietnam Times Magazine” - Vietnamese

    •   British Columbia:

  • William-Doyle Marshal, Co-chair - Caribbean

  • Maura De Freitas Co-Chair  “ The Celtic Connection” - Irish


    • “The authority and powers of the Agent General are equal to those of a Senior Vice President. Each Agent General represents the Council in his Province and is responsible to organize the members of the local Ethnic Press and Media, in the area of his/her jurisdiction.”

    The NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA, is a not for profit, non-Governmental organization (NGO), representing 750 Canadian Publications, and another 150 Electronic Media, (TV and Radio), representatives serving 101 linguistic and cultural communities.

    Motion: Srimal Abeyawardene moved a motion to approve the proposed Board of Directors of 2017 - 2019 and Ranjit Wickramasinghe seconded it. The motion was unanimously carried.
    President Thomas Saras congratulated the new board of directors and hoped that they would continue to work hard to get the organization towards renewed progress and success.

    Presentation by Imran Bashir CEO of Apptellect on the Digital Publishing Platform.
    Imran Bashir made a demo presentation on the digital publishing platform for the members interested in being part of this historic project which is aimed at monetizing content 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 Imran Bashir categorically answered all questions on this project posed by the members. He demonstrated that how content could be easily uploaded with the click of a button.
    President Thomas Saras encouraged members to join the digital publishing platform as it is a win- win situation for all with the technical support and marketing provided by Imran Bashir and his team in coordination with the digital publishing platform committee chaired by Yuri Natchetoi.
    Many members actively participated in the discussions and due to possibility of snow storm – it was unanimously decided to continue the dialogue later in the next meeting.

    New Members/ New Business

    Adjournment: Dr.Tajdolati moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Mila Garcia seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair, President Thomas Saras adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next monthly meeting would take place on Monday, April 10, 2017 at the City Hall.