Meeting Minutes - Jul. 14, 2008

Agenda 1.      Welcome Remarks by the chair. 2.      Minutes of the previous meeting. 3.      Roundtable discussions with Scott Shortliffe, Director PAP -Heritage Canada. 4.      Presentation by Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Programme Chair – International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) 5.      New Business (Motions) 6.      Adjournment NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA Conseil national de la press et des medias ethniques du Canada. Canada’s Other Voices Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on July 14, 2008 at Queen’s Park Present: Thomas S. Saras Dr.Bikram Lamba Gerald Paul Hai-Tien Lin Juri Laansoo Suleyman Guven Emrah Cikinci Aaaron Berhane Imelda O' Souzara Rosemarie Mayer Helge Heemdok Stephanie Williams Halini Mohammad Amin Shabnam Janani Ahmed Hotaki Clyde McNeil Nassim Daneshvar Neli Daneshvar Iraj Emad Syleyman Guven Neel Nanda Mohammad Tajdolati Saeed Soltanpour Maryam Aghvami Irene Keroglidis 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 Luba Cherny Massod Mashedi Teshome Woldemnsnuel Taha Hassaniani Rambir Chauhan Raina Sen Amir Mahimi Mondy Cherry Ned Blair Emmanuel Ayiku Kevin Wang Mila Astroga Garcia Hermie Garcia Luba Cherny Alang Hims Agenda 1.      Welcome Remarks by the chair. 2.      Minutes of the previous meeting. 3.      Roundtable discussions with Scott Shortliffe, Director PAP -Heritage Canada. 4.      Presentation by Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Programme Chair – International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) 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. Iraj Emad moved a motion to approve the agenda of the meeting. Irene Keroglidis seconded the motion, which was carried by all.   Minutes of the previous meeting: Nasim Daneshwar moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on June 9, 2008. Iraj Emad seconded it. The motion was carried. Presentation by Scott Shortliffe, Director PAP- Heritage Canada: Scott Shortliffe made a brief presentation on the PAP, which was followed by roundtable discussions. Dr. Lamba, Mila Garcia, Nasim Daneshwar, Srimal Abeyawardene, and many others participated in the discussions. The following are the highlights of the presentation and roundtable discussions The PAP helps to connect Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast, by helping all Canadians have access to the rich literature, fine reporting and fierce opinions contained in Canadian magazines and community newspapers. The Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), works in partnership with the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) to offset the mailing costs of Canadian content magazines and non-daily newspapers mailed within Canada. The Department of Canadian Heritage is seeking input to help with a proposed redesign of the Publications Assistance Program, which subsidizes mailing costs of magazines and non-daily newspapers, and the Canada Magazine Fund, which supports the creation of editorial content and business development for the magazine industry. Recent evaluations of the Canada Magazine Fund and the Publications Assistance Program found that public financial support for the periodical industry is still justified, but that there are also opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the two programs. The Department intends to redesign the Publications Assistance Program and the Canada Magazine Fund. The information received during these consultations will provide input for the redesign process. The Department will produce a public report summarizing what was heard during the consultations and will announce any program changes once they have been finalized. The program is expected to be finalized by April 2009. Currently, the Publications Assistance Program provides support to: Over 215 million copies of Canadian publications; Magazines and non-daily newspapers, as well as publications serving Ethnocultural, aboriginal and minority official language communities; and 1,200 publications overall Ethnic Publications are the hearts of the community and assumptions should be made, that all the ethnic publications need financial support while designing the new program. Ethnic Publication is now emerging as the main media. All ethnic publications provide information to the newcomers about the services provided to the new papers. Ethnic publications are also growing online and the new program should take into consideration their presence and popularity among the readership. The PAP should look towards augmenting the circulation and support to ethnic newspapers, simply acknowledging that ethnic publications are victims of their own success is not enough and the new program should have a concrete policy to address the various challenges faced by the ethnic publications. The PAP should also provide funding to the ethnic publications for training its staff in journalism and publishing at various community colleges or universities. Thomas Saras thanked Scott Shortliffe for attending the meeting and hoped to work together for the benefit of the ethnic media industry. Scott Shortliffe thanked all the members for providing their views and opinions on the PAP. He made note of all their viewpoints and would give them all a serious consideration while designing the new program. Clyde McNeil, the chair concluded the roundtable discussion with his footnotes. Presentation by Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Programme Chair – International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS: Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi made a presentation on the Shahnamah Millenium Concert, taking place on August 2, 2008 @7:30 pm followed by discussions. The following are the highlights of his presentation and discussions. The advertising in the ethnic press is helping the economy, creating businesses. To commemorate the millennium of the Shahnamah, a masterpiece of classical Persian poetry and cosmopolitanism completed in 1010 A.D., the Toronto Initiative for Iranian Studies and the International Society for Iranian Studies are staging a unique multimedia and musical performance. The Shahnamah Millennium Concert will celebrate 1000 years since this epic poem—often credited with keeping the Farsi language alive during many centuries—was written. This concert will be a multimedia presentation and will include: the Persian Trilogy played in its entirety by members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; projection of famous Persian miniature art on a giant screen; and narration by Tehran-based master story teller Morshed Valiollah Torabi. The chair Clyde McNeil, thanked Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi for his vibrant presentation and wished the concert a resounding success.                             Adjournment: Irene Keroglidis moved a motion to adjourn the meeting Iraj Emad. The motion was carried. The chair adjourned the meeting at 9 pm. The next meeting would take place on August 11, 2008 at Queen’s Park