Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on September 15, 2008
Located at committee room 230, second floor, Queen’s Park, Toronto
The minutes is prepared by Shabnam Janet Janani

The highlights of the meeting:
· The roundtable with the Consul General of the USA
· Presentation by John Cartwright from Labour Council
· Presentation by Emily Mills, communication coordinator from Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
· Roundtables with Hon. Stephen Harper and Hon. Stephane Dion
· Word on the Street exhibition
· Governor awards ceremony

The meeting was officially started by Clyde McNeil’s welcome remarks followed by his approval of the last monthly minutes, and the approval of Iraj Emad as secondary.
Guest speakers:
The special guest speaker was, the Consul General of the United States of America in Toronto. He explained the principals of the policy of the US Administration, including the new regulations. The discussion was ended with questions from members, including their concerns about the difficulties members of their communities faced in obtaining visas and answers from the Consul General.
John Cartwright from the Labour Council gave a short presentation on Good Jobs Now for a Greater Toronto. He is a labour and community activist involved in the fight for good jobs with equity and in providing a secure future for all. On Saturday, November 22nd (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) there will be a summit at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in regards to improving living and working conditions in Toronto. For more information, call 416-441-3663 or visit www.labourcouncil.ca
Emily Mills was the last guest speaker before the members listened to the reports of the President. Mills encouraged members to nominate employers or individuals from different ethnic communities for the third annual Immigrant Success Awards. There are four award categories. For more information please visit www.triec.ca. The deadline for all entries is November 14, 2008.
Report by the president:
Due to the fact that it is pre-election time, Thomas Saras started the report of the president by mentioning that he is communicating with the all three major federal parties in order to set a date for roundtable discussions of the leaders with the members. (As you know by now, there was a press conference with Hon. Stephen Harper, the leader of conservatives on the day after the meeting-Sept 16 and the next press conference will be hold on Wednesday Oct.08 with Hon. Stephane Dion, the leader of Liberal party of Canada.) 
Mr. Saras continued with The Word on the Street Festival exhibitions and asked the members to bring 20 copies of their publications and give them to Ahmad Shah Hotaki.
For this year’s awards (2008), Dr. Lamba submitted the names of all candidates to the president and according to Mr.Saras the names will be send to the office of the Governor general. The award ceremony will be held during the last week of October. The president will make everyone aware of the exact date of the ceremony and is going to ask the members to send their invitations. As with every year, no more than 200 guests will be allowed to attend the ceremony.
The annual get-together event is going to be held on Friday December 12th at the same place it was held last year. Tickets for the event will be available for purchase at the October meeting. Each ticket is $20/ person including dinner. If you are interested in attending, please purchase tickets during the next meeting - Oct.20
At the end, the president asked members for their approval of Shabnam Janet Janani as the Recording Secretary and the V.P. of Public Relations. Dr. Lamba as the primary and Iraj Emad as secondary approved the appointments of Shabnam Janani.
New Business:
Dr. Lamba expressed his disapproval of some of the members of the constitution committee due to their absence and lack of cooperation.  A constitutional committee will recommend the constitutional changes that are necessary before the next internal election of the organization are being held on March 2009. Dr. Lamba as the chair of the committee said the remaining members of the committee are as follows: Masood Mashadi, Stepahnie Williams and Neel Nanda. The details are going to be discussed in the next meeting.
Adjournment:
Iranj Emad moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Masood Mashadi seconded it. The motion was carried and the chair officially adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm. More than 60 members were in attendance at this meeting. Our next meeting will be held on Oct.20th.
Don’t forget to mark your calendar for following:
· October 8th (9-10 a.m.): Roundtable with the leader of the Liberal party- Stephane Dion
· October 20th (5:30-9:30 p.m.): the next monthly meeting of the organization
· October 30th: the award ceremony night-only by invitation