National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada Meeting of July 9, 2007, Committee room N#2, Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario
Speaker of the day: Howard Hampton, Leader On. NDP
Minutes of the Meeting
Attendance: Thomas S. Saras Iraj Emad Bikram Lamba, Amir Mahir Katayan Pejium Irene Keroglidis Sima Zerehi Saul Soltanpour Assad Zarrinmehr "Shahre Ma" Hassan Zerehi "Shahrvand" Clyde McNeil Neel Nanda K. Arasaratnam Suku Balasubramaniam Mohammad Tajdolati Massood Mashadi Adnan Hasmi Ahmed Shah Hotaki J. Jekielek A. peazandor Ned Blair Tanas Jovanovski John Saraidaris Alamgir Hussein Maryam Aghvami Luba Cherny Mila Garcia Hermie Garcia Shabnam Janani Hai-Tien Lin Dumitru Popescu Neel Nanda
Agenda of the Day
1. Welcome Remarks by the Chair
2. A Call to Order by the Chair
3. Minutes from last meeting introduced Motion to accept minutes by Dr. B. Lamba, Seconded by Mr. Neel Nanda, Approved
4. Opening Comments by Mr. Saras regarding agenda change
Hon. Mike Colle, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration of Ontario was asked to re-schedule due to today's heavy agenda
Motion put forward to amend agenda and strike item #5 by Dr. Lambert, Seconded by Mr. Iraj Emad, Approved
5. Item 3a on agenda regarding Citizenship ceremony moved to proceed presentation by Hon. Howard Hampton, Leader of Ont. NDP
6. Mr. Saras reported back from meeting with Prime Minister Harper regarding issue of government advertising for ethnic publications - Mr. Saras stated that he indicated at the meeting that the Council is not seeking financial help from government in order to preserve the integrity of the group as independent, and would only accept funds if they were directed from the Ministry of Culture to organize educational sessions in Toronto, Montreal and British Columbia for Council members - Plans are on the way to conduct surveys in September 2007 to identify priorities of the members, this venture is funded through the Ministry of Culture - Phase 3 of plan will cost $25, 000, 75% of cost from funding and 25% from in- kind services, some money will also come from the treasury - The program will start in September
7. Citizenship Ceremony at CNE on Aug 23, 2007
- Every year the Council organizes a citizenship ceremony - This year the ceremony take place on Thursday at 11am at the CNE on Aug 23 on the International Stage - There will be 60 different cultures present amongst the people taking the oath, total attendance should be 100-150 people - Many politicians will also attend - 120-130 people from Council should join the ceremony - Tickets and parking passes will be issued by Mr. Saras to members of the Council and their families (tickets are made available to Council) - Tickets are not yet printed, please look for an email to announce the availability of tickets - Council will provide food and drinks from various cultures for the event
8. CNE – Ethnic Press Council Day
- Last Saturday of season will be Ethnic Press Council Day which will feature cultural dancing, singing, music etc. - We need everyone's help to make this event a success - A committee is created to plan this day
9. National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada Annual Awards
- The deadline for award nominations is end of July - End of July is also the end of the Lieutenant Governors mandate, who attends these award meetings and presents the awards to recipients - The PM might extent this mandate for an additional year, if another Lieutenant Governor is appointed we will approach them to participate in the award ceremony and the 30th anniversary of the Council
10. PST Changes
- In June 2006 there were several changes by the Ontario Gov. regarding Ethnic Publications - As a result the PST exemptions were lost by numerous publications particularly those that publish only once/week - Ms. Saras read correspondence from Minister of Finance Hon. Greg Sorbara dated May 30, 2007 regarding exemption from Regulation 1013 under the Retail Sales Tax Act - Mr. Saras informed Council that in his communication with Minister Sorbara he was informed that members of media organizations would be exempt from the PST - He also informed Council members that he has been working diligently on this issue since May to include members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada in the list of PST exemptions - Mr. Saras is awaiting a response from Minister Sorbara this month - Ontario Community Publications through their Council have also send an email saying they will be meeting with politicians to address the PST issue - Mr. Saras stressed that the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada has been at the forefront of this issue and he is optimistic that members of our Council will be exempt from the PST - Mr. Saras instructed member of the Ontario Community Publications to move forward on their work without members of the Council, Mr. Saras did not pass them contact information to members of the Council
11. Mona Feng Resignation
- Ms. Feng has been recently hired by the Government of Ontario as a psychologist in order to avoid conflict of interest she has resigned from the office of Vice-President of Public Relations effective immediately - She will continue to remain a general member of the Council
MEETING INTERRUPTED WITH ARRIVAL OF Hon. Howard Hampton
12. Notes from Hon. Howard Hampton, Leader of the Ontario NDP’s Talk
- We are in midst of U.S. style election campaign - New trend is that elections are 4-5 months long - The previous 6 months have been very important to upcoming election - We saw the results of the Bi-election - the election of Paul Ferreira in York South-Weston a tremendous sign of success for the NDP - main issue at doorstep of this bi-election was the $40,000 pay increase for members of legislature - NDP would have agreed to 4-5% pay increase but not to a $40-$50,000/year increase - This increase at this time is unjust - How can we justify a 31-33% pay increase at time when many in Ontario told to work for less - At same time the Liberal’s response to increase minimum wage to $10 was lets wait to 2011 - Ordinary people are working 5-6 jobs to pay bills and feed their kids - As months roll by this issue becomes increasingly important - It is symbolic of what is happening across the Province - Working people are working harder to survive - Ontario looses more manufacturing jobs over the summer, there are continuing difficulties for people to gain accreditation of academic and professional credentials - Despite the photo ops the doors to new immigrants remain closed - Gaining accreditation is much easier in Saskatchewan and Winnipeg than Ontario - Foreign trained physicians in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are gaining accreditation why must they jump though hoops to practice here - The experience of ordinary folks does not match up with headlines and photo-ops - The NDP champions an increase in minimum wage to $10/hr - Waiting to 2011 is not acceptable as prices are going to continue to increase and people need to make something that approaches minimum wage - We need to open doors to people who have academic and work experiences from other countries - The issue of child poverty needs to be addressed - Rosario Marchese used examples of 2 schools one wealthy school with private sponsors and a school 15 blocks away with no private funding to illustrate how one set of students had access to the best athletic, computer and musical resources while the other was falling apart
Q & A
Q: Can you speak about your travel expenses reported in the Star? A: I always travel in economy class. I have a large constituent and a responsibility to travel the Province to raise the issues such as what to do to sustain jobs.
Q: Why did NDP members not refuse the salary increase? A: I could not have asked NDP members to earn less pay than their counterparts.
Q: Do you have any solutions to manufacturing job losses? A: I believe that we should have measures to protect our jobs. In U.S. when they spend tremendous money on transportation they stipulate that 50% of the work should be done in the U.S. We should have similar policy.
We should use Hydro to generate jobs like in Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and B.C. In min 90’s B.C. faced with prospect of 190, 000 job loses. They created a jobs commission independent of the government to deal with this issue and provide solutions. Out of 100,000 jobs at risk 75,000 jobs were sustained.
Q: Can you speak about foreign control of Canadian industries? A: Toronto’s economy is not based on the high-tech industry but on the mining industry. These mining companies are being bought out by foreign investors. Federally and Provincially we have to move forward to put policies in place to protect these industries and the attached attending industries.
Q: How can we strike a balance between cultural and arts spending and necessary expenditures in areas of social services like housing? A: A corporation is not interested in putting their name on social housing but they line up to put their logo on the AGO, ROM or a hospital. These are places where we should utilize government money, to focus on public investments that create fairness and equality.
McGuinty is moving towards a profit driven private hospitals. We should not have profit driven corporations in our hospitals but can involve them in our arts, music & culture.
Q: What do you think about new regulations that force ethnic publication to pay PST while many corporate mainstream publications have been exempt? A: Mainstream papers are becoming less and less important while ethnic publications are growing in number to represent the newcomer communities.
Q: Can you speak about the current Provincial Immigration policies? A: The actual work policy of the government is to utilize new Canadians as temp workers, on-call workers, contract workers. You cannot build an economy by constantly bidding down wages.
Q: The grassroots message of the NDP is not reaching many ridings, particularly in between elections. There is often a lack of movement by NDP candidates, we hear from you and Mr. Layton but not other NDP voices. Do you think you have adequately prepared your candidates for this upcoming election? A: I think we are going to elect more people like Paul Ferreira. We are already doing this as evident in our success at York South-Weston and by the NDP candidates that represent areas like Scarborough where we have all visible minorities. I think the reason for the negative feeling is that people don’t think we can win. We are going to see an NDP come back this election, not in just this city but throughout Ontario.
Q: Can you speak to the particular needs of Live-in-caregivers who are in extremely precarious working conditions. Can anything be done to change these conditions? A: My wife and I have a Live-in-care giver. She is trained in early childhood education and speaks several languages. Through her experiences upon her arrival here in accessing adult ESL language classes and a licence we gained an understanding of the prohibitive structure of this program. The program is structured not to enhance someone’s skills but to provide low-wage labour in very vulnerable position. We need to establish a registry of care-givers and ensure that they are being paid and not mistreated.
CONTINUE AGENDA
13. Presidents Update:
September 10th meeting
- Our September 10th meeting will be @ City Hall Committee Rm. #2 - Change is due to election on Oct. 10, 2007
Event Thursday July 12 @ OISE
- 6-9 pm "An Offering to the Filipino Youth" - RSVP to CERIS 416.946.3110 or email
Committee to be struck to work on Citizenship Ceremony on Aug 23
- Mr. Massood is the convener 9 people have volunteered - Dr. Lamba moves motion for Mr. Massood as convener, Mr. Emad Seconds, Motion passed
A gift Needed for Lieutenant Governor representing ethnic cultures, one or two people needed to prepare gift
Contributions are needed for funds to maintain the office at City Hall
- Mr. Saras has already raised some funds and has sent out mail asking for contributions - If any donations are given the Council can issue them an invoice for tax-exemption - The charitable number will be given to the council
Suggestion of Moving Council's 30th anniversary to Next year
- more time is needed to make this historical event a success - $12-$13 thousand dollars are expected from Mr. Saras’ resources, Council needs to double that amount - We have to start building a treasury, a nest to be able to help fellow members in case of a crisis
ROM Visit - Mr. Saras will speak to the ROM about arranging a tour for Council in July on a Friday after 3pm
PST Exemption - Mr. Saras will meet with a committee of 4 with Minister of Finance Mr. Sorbaro to advocate on an exemption for ethnic publications - The committee will include the Chair, Mr. Zerehi, and Mr. Tajdolati
Financial Statement - The chartered accountant asked for $4,000 to sign the Council’s financial statement, Mr. Saras is working on another person the statement should be signed and ready soon
Council Annual Awards - Last day of submission of nominations for awards is July 31 - All nominations must be made through prescribed forms - All material available via website
Meeting with Prime Minister on July 15 - Members have already reserved spots via email
Ethnic Press Business Cards - Mr. Saras is negotiating business cards for members
Upcoming Meetings - Meetings with Mr. Layton, Dion and Minister of External Affairs are being coordinated
14. Mona Feng Resignation as Vice-President of Public Relations - Chair Moves to accept resignation, Seconded by Dr. Lambert, Motion passes
15. Vote to meet in September 10th @ City Hall Committee Rm. #2 Moved by Chair, seconded by Dr. Lamba, passed
16. Ethnic Press Business Cards - Mr. Saras is negotiating business cards for members
17. Ombudsperson - Please note any emails to ombudsperson will be regarded as conflicts in need of mediation
18. Suggestion for an Ethnic Press BBQ - Members will investigate and coordinate via email
19. Additional Member of Awards Committee Needed due to today’s resignation - Maryam has volunteered - Motion to accept Maryam by Mr. Saras, Seconded by Sima, motion passed
