Minutes
of the Monthly Meeting held on July 13, 2009 at Queen’s Park
Present:
Thomas
S. Saras
Dr.Bikram
Lamba
Ahmed
Hotaki
Clyde
McNeil
Mohammad
Tajdolati
Shahidu,
Islam Min
Suleyman
Guven
Neel
Nanda
Alamgir
Hussein
Hassan
Zerehi
Muhammad
Ali Bukhari
Bahram
Bahrami
Ranjit
Wics
Srimal
Abeyawardene
Emmanuel
Ayiku
R.
T Nathan
Kanagasabai
Moprthy
Omeed
Mahboub
K.
David Lim
Kevin
Wang
John
Saraidaris
Hossein
Pourhaider
Iosif
Spataru
Luba
Cherny
Prem
Arasaratnam
Dumitru
Popescu
Teshome
Woldeamanuel
Dumitru
Popescu
Ahmad
Hotaki
Muluken
Muchie
Eraa
Veanthan
Purhuvai
N. Raman
Parry
Long
Jose
E Dinan
Ned
Blair
Aaron
Berhane
P.
Thayaparan
N.
Longendralinghan
W.
Waradargli
Agenda
1.
Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2.
Minutes of the previous meeting.
3.
Matters Arising out of the minutes.
4.
Presidents Report
5.
New Business (Motions)
6.
Adjournment
Welcome
Remarks by the Chair:
The
chair of the meeting, Clyde McNeil welcomed everybody to the meeting and
declared the meeting open.
Dr.
Lamba moved a motion to approve the agenda of the meeting. Alamgir Hussain
seconded the motion, which was carried by all.
Minutes
of the previous meeting:
Dr.
Lamba moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly
meeting held on June, 2009. Alamgir Hussain seconded it. The motion was
carried.
Matters
Arising out of the Minutes
Muhammad
Ali Bukhari pointed out that his name in the attendance list was
misspelled in the minutes. He also mentioned that in some discussions name
of the participating members including his have been omitted for an
unknown reason.
President
Thomas Saras expressed his stand on the issue and said that the minutes
are not necessarily recorded verbatim. If any member wants his name
included in the discussion list, he may request the recording secretary to
do so. The matter was understood by all parties concerned.
President’s
Report/Discussions:
·
Ethnic Press Exhibition was postponed in the week of June 29 due to
the strike by city workers. A decision on the exhibition would be taken in
the next meeting.
·
The President is in discussions with the PMO to hold sessions with
the council.
·
Nominations for this year’s award are closed. Dr. Lamba and his
committee would decide on this year’s award recipients.
·
NEPMCC is going to sponsor cultural shows at the CNE.
·
Religion and Politics should be out of this organization. President
Thomas Saras strongly underscored this point and reiterated that NEPMCC is
governed by a professional code of conduct.
·
President urged the members to abide by the code of ethics. Any
member not following the code of ethics could lose membership status with
the organization. Members should desist publishing any derogatory articles
about fellow community members.
·
President Saras mentioned about 41 journalists being put in prison
in Iran and especially mentioned about one Canadian Iranian journalist
being held in prison in Iran. President expressed his concern over the
unrest in Iran. NEPMCC would send its concerns over the journalists in
Iran to the Iranian Embassy.
·
Motion: Thomas Saras moved a motion seconded by Srimal Abeyawardene
empowering NEPMCC to send a letter to the Iranian Embassy, strongly
condemning the treatment meted out to journalists in Iran. Dr. Lamba had
reservations about the motion since the concerned journalist belonged to
the mainstream media. Alamgir Hussain, Muhammad Bukhari Srimal
Abyeawardene and other members expressed their views on the issues.
Dr. Lamba voted against the motion. Rest of the members present
voted in favour of the motion.
·
Muhammad Ali Bukhari urged the council that members abide by ethics
and NEPMCC should condemn any inappropriate funding received by any fellow
member from any government body.
·
Labour Day weekend to be held at the CNE. Members should indicate
how many would attend the ethnic press festival in order to obtain the
passes. The CNE passes would be distributed to the members in the next
monthly meeting.
·
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff wrote a letter to the President
thanking him for giving him the opportunity to meet with the council.
Dr.
Lamba received the nominations for the awards. The decision would be taken
next month. The committee is going to closely scrutinize on all
nominations before the finalizing the list this year.
A matter of dispute between two members of the council was brought
before the office of the ombudsman. The office of the ombudsman has
advised all the concerned parties of its decision. The matter of dispute
arose when one of the members published some derogatory remarks about the
fellow member in his publication. An apology by the member has been
published in the same page where the alleged article was published on the
advice and directive of the ombudsman. The office of the ombudsman is not
for settling any monetary dues and it is not in the jurisdiction of the
ombudsman as claimed by one member involved in the dispute. The council is
meant to promote professionalism and the Ombudsman reiterated that point.
Dr Lamba also mentioned that he received complaint from one of the members
regarding a Government advertising run by a fellow member. Dr. Lamba
mentioned that he went over the complaint and decided the issue did not
have any merit for passing any ruling. There are independent government
bodies which are responsible for distributing government ads and it is not
up to NEPMCC to ask any government body to stop running ad in any
particular newspaper.
.
.
New
Business:
The
Chair, Clyde McNeil welcomed new members to the council. They were:
Shahidul
Islam Mintu – Editor, thebengalitimes.com a Canadian Bengali weekly.
Maheson
Kanaphathi Pillai – Kathir Oli, Weekly Tamil Newspaper
Ashogan
V Pillai - Kathir Oli, Weekly
Tamil Newspaper.
P
Thaya – Siraku News
The
chair encouraged them to be active participants for the cause of the
organization.
Alamgir
Hussain on behalf of his newspaper “Shomoy” invited members of the
council to boat a cruise on August 8.
Adjournment: Ned Blair moved a motion to adjourn the meeting Srimal Abeyawardene seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next meeting would take place on August 10, 2009
