Meeting Minutes - Aug. 13, 2007

NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA Conseil national de la presse et des medias ethniques du Canada                                                                                 Canada's Other Voices Minutes of the monthly meeting held at Queen's Park on August 13, 2007 Present: Thomas Saras Srmial Abeyawardene Bikram Lamba Iraj Emad Clyde McNeil Irene Keroglidis Neel Nanda Aris Babikian Massood Mashadi Mohammad Tajdolati Amir Mahim Ahmed Shah Hotaki John Saraidaris Ranjit Wickrowasush Davis Ferdinands Sukumar Balasubramantam K. Arasaratnam Alamgir Hussain Niar Salimi Teshome Woldeamenuel Danielle Zhu Trifon Haitas Syed Naqvi Dumitru Popescu Mila Garcia Hermie Garcia Jan Jelieleh Aaron Berhane Kebret Tesfarige Luigi Losma Maria Losma Maryam Aghvami   Agenda: 1. Opening Remarks by the Chair 2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. 3. President's Report. 4. New Business/Discussions 5. End of meeting   Opening Remarks by the Chair: The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.   Minutes of the previous meeting: Dr. Lamba moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on July 9, 2007. Srimal Abeyawardene seconded the motion, which was carried by all.   President's Report/Discussions ·        Thomas Saras informed the members that NEPMCC has now received a charitable number. ·        The chair on behalf of the members of the Council congratulated the President for his gigantic and persistent efforts in getting a charitable number for this organization. This a really great accomplishment of this organization. ·        Thomas Saras informed the Council that invitation on the citizenship ceremony has been sent to leaders of all the major political parties. ·        The citizenship ceremony would take place on August 23 at the CNE in Hall “B” of the International Building. The ceremony would begin around 10:00 AM. .  This citizenship ceremony marks the 60th Anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship, the 30th Anniversary of the NEPMCC and the 129th Anniversary of the CNE. ·        NEPMCC, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the CNE are partners in the citizenship ceremony, which would take place on August 23 at the CNE. ·        Motion: Thomas Saras moved a motion to allocate a budget of $1200 to cover the expenses of the citizenship ceremony. Dr Lamba seconded it and it was carried by all. ·        Lunch would be served to new citizens and guests invited to attend the citizenship ceremony. Select Bakery would sponsor the cake that would be served during a luncheon after the citizenship ceremony. ·        Luba Cherny has arranged for two musicians who would play Violin and Piano on the stage during the citizenship ceremony. ·        Irene Keroglidis, Maryam Aghvami, Danielle Zhu would be welcoming the guests attending the citizenship ceremony as part of the reception committee for this event. ·        Masood Mashadi, John Saras, Aris Babikian, Popescu Dumutru and others volunteered to form a committee that would help with the logistics and other allied duties during the citizenship ceremony. ·        CNE passes were distributed to the members during the meeting  to members, who were attending the citizenship ceremony ·        Srimal Abyeawardene suggested having a video recording for the citizenship ceremony. He suggested the name of Trifon Haitais to cover the event. There was also a suggestion of selling the DVD copies of the event @ $25 in order to compensate the cost of production. ·        Thomas Saras would send a congratulatory letter to the new Lieutenant Governor on his mew appointment. The annual award giving ceremony would take place on either 27th or 28th September. ·        Thomas Saras thanked everyone who submitted the nominations for the awards and told the  council that Dr. Lamba, along with his committee would finalize the list after the citizenship ceremony on August 23rd ·        Thomas Saras informed the members that Sheridan College has launched a program on foreign-trained journalists.  Members interested in joining the program can benefit from the many facets facing the industry.   New Business/ Discussions: ·        Masood Mashadi informed the members of NEPMCC that COSTI has a program of placing new immigrants to various volunteer positions in the private and government sector, so that they gain the valuable work experience in Canada. He asked the members to make possible accommodations to the new immigrants enrolled under this program  to their respective businesses. ·        Mila Garcia briefed the members on the messages delivered at the launching of two studies on July 12, at OISE. Mayor Miller acknowledged in his message that in the launching of two studies “Filipinos in Canada: Economic Dimensions of Immigration and Settlement “, by Dr. Phillip Kelly and “The Road to Empowerment in the Filipino Community: Moving from Crisis to Capacity Building”, by Mila Garcia marks an important milestone for the Filipino community and the city of Toronto. Chair of the Police Services Board, Alok Mukherjee also acknowledged he role of Alliance for Social Justice for turning a tragedy into a social and institutional change. ·        Maryam Aghvami initiated a discussion on the meaning of diversity in Canada. Many members contributed their ideas and participated in the discussion. ·        Alamgir Hussain invited the members of NEPMCC to South Asian concert taking place in Metro Toronto Convention Centre on September 1, 2007.   End of Meeting: Srimal Abeyawardene moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Dr. Lamba seconded it. It was carried by all. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting would take place on September 10,2007 at the City Hall, committee room N#2. Down-Town, Toronto. Thomas Saras suggested that the members take the subway in order to avoid paying parking fees.