Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on September 17, 2012, at Committee Room No 2, Queens Park

Present:

Thomas S. Saras

Bikram Lamba, Dr.

Shahidul Mintu

Rakhi Probhakar

Sandeep Prabhakar

Juju Katib

William Doyle-Marshall

Marek J. Goldyn

Jaques Varbadian

Mohammad- Bagher  Samimi.

Suleyman Guven.

Khan Khoda, Dr.

Adu Janus Rankkivi

Teshome Woldeamanuel

Vnthan  Ramana

Catherine Fait

Ahilan Muththukumarasamey

Dumitru Popescu

Ranjit Wicks

Upali Obeyedekere

Srimal Abeyewardene

Viara Dimitrova

C. Senthi.

Ned Blair

Gerald V. Paul

Mohammad Tajdolati

Nishantha Don

Raffi Der-Bogossian

Saad Alsafar

Ahmed Shah Hotaki

Bob Ristic

Peter Galiatsos

Nagamany Logendraliagam

Aaron Berhane

Susana Donan

John Saraidaris

Charles Deva

Suham Ali Shuinbuli

Agenda

1.            Welcome Remarks by the chair.

2.            Minutes of the previous meeting

3.         Report of the President 

4.         New Business

5.            Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Dr. Lamba chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open.  Suleiman Guven moved a motion to approve the agenda, Sandeep Prabhakar seconded it. The motion was carried.

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Suleiman Guven moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on August 13, 2012. Rakhee Prabhakar seconded it.  The motion was carried.

President’s Report/Discussions

·            President Thomas Saras expects a very busy year ahead with many important projects and events for NEPMCC.

·            President Thomas Saras read the amount of money distributed through PAP to magazines, non-daily newspapers and electronic media.

·            President Thomas Saras explained the parameters for applying for funding under PAP

·            President Saras distributed a letter from BPA Worldwide regarding auditing of circulation of ethnic publications. The office of the President is trying to negotiate a subsidized price for the audit of member publications of NEPMCC with BPA Worldwide.

·            President Thomas Saras informed the council that the nomination process for this year’s awards is now closed. President reiterated to the council that persons with criminal record ware not eligible to be nominated for any awards.

·            President Thomas Saras informed the members that NEPMCC 2012Award Ceremony will be held on November 9, which will be hosted by His Honour the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario at  His offices at Queens Park. This is an invitation only event,  attended by award winners and members of NEPMCC. Members interested in attending the event should send their names to the office of the President.

·            President Thomas Saras informed the members that the book launching on the ethnic survey conducted by NEPMCC will take place on November 19 at Toronto Dominion Centre. A Special reception for the award recipients will also take place on Monday November the 19th at the Toronto Dominion Tower, at 66 Wellington Street West, 54th floor, In Toronto. Attendance at this event is also by invitation. A number of cabinet ministers from the provincial and federal government will be attending as well members of the faculty of Senece College. Any member interested to attend the event must notify the office of the president immediately by emailing also his full name and full address.

·            2012Annual Dinner will take place on Friday, December 14 at the Cypriot Community Centre. The members present at the meeting overwhelmingly decided that the price of the ticket is $25 per person.

·           Motion: Motion was moved by Suleiman Guven to give authorization to President to spend for the events in 2012 as  required. Motion was seconded by Ahmad Shah Hotaki and carried by all.

·            President Thomas Saras plans to visit Vancouver to meet with the members of NEPMCC and the Premier of BC along with various MPPs of British Columbia. Motion: A motion was moved by Suleiman Guven and seconded by Dr. Khan Khoda in this respect. The motion was carried.

·            President Thomas Saras informed that Senior Vice President Irene Keroglidis has submitted her resignation to the Board for personal reasons. The resignation accepted by the board of Directors.

Word on the Street Festival:

President Thomas Saras informed the members that on Sunday September 23, 2012 is the Word on the Street Festival. President emphasized that the word on the street festival a great platform for publishers and is good public relations opportunity for member publishers to promote their respective publications. Members were reminded to bring in large number of copies of their publication for this event. Ahmad Shah Hotaki is in charge of this event for NEPMCC.

New Business

Ahmed Shah Hotaki suggested that Hon. Jim Karigiannis be honoured for helping the ethnic media during the December annual dinner event, this year.

Suleiman Guven informed the members People’s Tribunal and People’s Assembly this Friday September 21 at Metro Hall Room No 303 to put pressure worldwide to free the Cuban five. Suleiman Guven is participating at the event and he invited all ethnic media members to attend this event.

New Member –

The chair of the meeting welcomed Juju Katib General Manager, GQ Multimedia to NEPMCC and hoped she would an active participant in the organization.

Juju Katib invited members of NEPMCC to join in the 2nd Arab Canadian Business Gala on November 3rd at the Erin Mills Convention Centre.

Dr Lamba suggested that those members who want Media pass urgently should pay a fee of $10

Motion: 

A motion to this regard was moved by Bob Ristic and seconded by Khan Khoda. The motion was carried

 Adjournment:

 Dr. Tajdolati moved a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Dr. Khan Khoda seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair Dr. Lamba adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm. The next meeting would take place on Monday, October 15, 2012 at Queens Park, in Toronto.