Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on March 10, 2008 at Queen's Park

Present:
Thomas S. Saras
Dr. Bikram Lamba.
Ahmed Hotaki
Clyde McNeil
Nassim Daneshvar
Iraj Emad
Syleyman Guven
Neel Nanda
Tom Kear
Mohamed Tajdolati
Niaz Salimi
Bahram Bahrami
Ranjit Wics
Srimal Abeyawardene
Emmanuel Ayiku
David Ferdinands
Sabnam Janani
Maryam Aghvami
Tanas Jovanovski
K. David Lim
Kevin Wang
John Saraidaris
Hossein Pourhaider
Trifon Haitas
Luba Cherny
Danielle Zhu
Dumitru Popescu
Massod Masedi

Agenda
1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting.
3. Presentation by the Humber River Health Coalition.
4. Report by the President
5. Report by the chair of the exhibition committee.
6. New Business (Motions)
7. Adjournment.


Welcome Remarks by the Chair:
The chair of the meeting, Clyde McNeil welcomed everybody to the meeting and declared the meeting open. The chair gave a hearty round of applause in wishing the President "Many Happy Returns of the Day".  All the members joined in wishing him the best of health and success on his Birthday.
Dr.Lamba moved a motion to approve the agenda of the meeting. Iraj Emad seconded the motion, which was carried by all.

Presentation by Humber River Health Coalition, led by Mr. Rennie Tergbot and Mr. Tom Kear.

Rennie Tergbot began his presentation on educating the NEPMCC on the background of the Humber River Health Coalition. Tom Kear also contributed to this presentation. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period. Ned Blair, Clyde McNeil, Dr. Lamba, Iraj Emad and others took part in the discussion.
Some of the highlights of this presentation and discussion were

• On April 25,2007 a petition, signed by over 5,500 residents from the catchment area of the Humber River Regional Hospital (HRRH), had been presented to the Ontario Legislature asking for a review and open public discussion of the HRRH Board's decision to close and/or re-locate its hospital services.(Keele and Wilson)

• The Coalition is a group of community residents and health professionals concerned about the lack of community involvement and consultation in the hospital's proposed re-development.

• On Dec 19, 2005 the Government announced the commitment of greatly needed funding to improve health care in the northwest sector of the city. Community consultation was promised in that announcement. "No such process has taken place. Yet we have been given every indication that decisions have been made behind closed doors without any opportunity for the voice of the community.

• HWY 400 and Finch Avenue is the best location for the new acute care hospital for the best use of the tax payer's dollars, best use of existing health and medical infrastructure.

• The proposed site at Keele and Wilson takes health care away from the doorsteps of thousands of people who have come to this city over the past 30 years.

• The Keele and Wilson site takes an employment engine away from a community that really needs economic stimulus.

The chair Clyde McNeil thanked the delegation from the Humber River Health Coalition for their illustrious presentation and encouraged them to approach individual member publications to carry their message to the community.  Rennie Tergbot thanked NPMCC for giving them the opportunity of making a presentation to the council.

Minutes of the previous meeting:
Dr. Lamba moved a motion to approve the minutes of the monthly meeting held on February 11, 2008. Srimal Abeyawardene seconded it. The motion was carried.

Report by the President/Discussions:

• President Thomas Saras began his report by mentioning that the Family Day celebration on February 18 was a big success due to the attendance and participation of the members.

• NEPMCC participated in a round table discussion with a delegation from Heritage Canada under the director of the department of publications (PAP), Mr. Scott Shortliffe, on March 5, 2008 and made a very good presentation in stating the case of the ethnic media.

• President Thomas Saras will invite Scott Shortliffe, Director of Publications Assistance Program-Heritage Canada, in one of the monthly meetings to make a presentation on the new rules governing the PAP.

• Thomas Saras suggested on the ways members of the council could benefit from the recommendations made to Heritage Canada. Subsidies in bulk mailing to different provinces were one of the many recommendations made by the Council.

• Under the proposed changes in the PAP every publication should carry 60% Canadian content in order to be eligible for a Government subsidy.

• Thomas Saras has been in touch with Chin Radio, The Ethnic Channels and various ethnic media outlets with regards to hosting the Ethnic Press Exhibition from July 7 to July 12 at the Toronto City Hall.

• Various ethnic media channels have expressed interest in participating in the Ethnic Media Exhibition.

• The Ethnic Press exhibition would provide a very good opportunity to publish a magazine on the history of this organization along with a page dedicated to the members of the NEPMCC, where they can provide backgrounds of their individual publications or their individual profile.

• Thomas Saras praised and thanked Iraj Emad for coming back to serve this organization from his serious illness.

• During the exhibition the ethnic newspapers will be judged based on their editorial content, creative layout and so on. There was a discussion on whether the judges should be appointed externally or from within the Council. Srimal Abeyawardene, suggested of appointing Professor Miller as one of the panel judges.

• Finally the President stated that he extended an invitation to Hon. Michael Chan, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration for Ontario to make a presentation to our members on our April 14th meeting, and also John Cartwright, President of the York and Toronto regions Labour Council to speck to our members. Both accepted and therefore our next meeting starts at 6:00 pm on Monday April 14th, 2008 The Minister specks first and at 7:30 the President of the Labour Council would make his presentation.

Report by the chair of the exhibition committee:

Clyde McNeil the chair of the exhibition committee updated the members on progress and recommendation of his committee.

• The Event will be used to promote the NEPMCC and its members.

• To provide information to the public on various issues. Statscan would provide a profile with figures and stats of every community participating in the event.

• The committee came up with guidelines that would formulate the event (purpose, content, model and budget).

• The committee hoped to get various organizations to sponsor   different days of the week, for example the Mayor would sponsor one day and then Federal and Provincial Government and the event concluding with NEPMCC sponsoring the final day.

• Members would display their publications at the booth representing their respective communities.

Srimal Abeyawardene suggested that members should be allowed to display their three best editions, (including the most recent) since the event would be witnessed and attended by the general public.

Motion: Dr. Lamba moved a motion for NEPMCC's participation in the Word on the Street Festival. Maryam Aghvami seconded it. The motion was carried.

Motion: Dr. Lamba moved a motion "NEPMCC would celebrate its annual festival at the CNE", which will include hosting the Citizenship Ceremony at the CNE. Srimal Abeyawardene seconded it. The motion was carried.

New Members:
President Thomas Saras and chair of the meeting Clyde McNeil welcomed the following new members to the organization and hoped they would be active participants of the council. They were:

Nassim Daneshwar –Banoo Magazine- a female perspective. (Iranian)
Bahram Bahrami Publisher and Editor  MEHRIRAN   Persian
Suleyman Goven, Publisher/Editor      YENI HAYET / TURKISH-KURDISH

                                      
New Business:

Neel Nanda informed the council about "Heritage Beyond Borders" a federally registered Non-Profit organization that is created to achieve harmony and understanding between people of different ethnicity through cultural exchanges, workshops, social gatherings, thereby creating a unique heritage that transcends borders, ethnicity, race and religion. He urged the members to participate in the upcoming press conference so that the message would be spread to the readership.

Adjournment: Dr. Lamba moved a motion to adjourn the meeting. Iraj Emad seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next meeting would take place on April 14, 2008 at Queen’s Park.

The above document was prepared by Neel Nanda, Secretary General of NEPMCC.