Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on July 13, 2009 at Queen’s Park

Present:
Thomas S. Saras
Dr.Bikram Lamba
Ahmed Hotaki
Clyde McNeil
Mohammad Tajdolati
Shahidu, Islam Min
Suleyman Guven
Neel Nanda
Alamgir Hussein
Hassan Zerehi
Muhammad Ali Bukhari
Bahram Bahrami
Ranjit Wics
Srimal Abeyawardene
Emmanuel Ayiku

R. T Nathan
Kanagasabai Moprthy
Omeed  Mahboub
K. David Lim
Kevin Wang
John Saraidaris
Hossein Pourhaider
Iosif Spataru
Luba Cherny
Prem Arasaratnam
Dumitru Popescu
Teshome Woldeamanuel
Dumitru Popescu
Ahmad Hotaki
Muluken Muchie
Eraa  Veanthan
Purhuvai   N. Raman
Parry  Long
Jose E Dinan
Ned Blair
Aaron Berhane
P. Thayaparan
N. Longendralinghan
W. Waradargli

Agenda
1. Welcome Remarks by the chair.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting.
3. Matters Arising out of the minutes.
4. Presidents Report
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.
Dr. Lamba moved a motion to approve the agenda of the meeting. Alamgir Hussain seconded the motion, which was carried by all.

Minutes of the previous meeting:
Dr. Lamba moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on June, 2009. Alamgir Hussain seconded it. The motion was carried.

Matters Arising out of the Minutes
Muhammad Ali Bukhari pointed out that his name in the attendance list was misspelled in the minutes. He also mentioned that in some discussions name of the participating members including his have been omitted for an unknown reason.
President Thomas Saras expressed his stand on the issue and said that the minutes are not necessarily recorded verbatim. If any member wants his name included in the discussion list, he may request the recording secretary to do so. The matter was understood by all parties concerned.

President’s Report/Discussions:
· Ethnic Press Exhibition was postponed in the week of June 29 due to the strike by city workers. A decision on the exhibition would be taken in the next meeting.
· The President is in discussions with the PMO to hold sessions with the council.
· Nominations for this year’s award are closed. Dr. Lamba and his committee would decide on this year’s award recipients.
· NEPMCC is going to sponsor cultural shows at the CNE.
· Religion and Politics should be out of this organization. President Thomas Saras strongly underscored this point and reiterated that NEPMCC is governed by a professional code of conduct.
· President urged the members to abide by the code of ethics. Any member not following the code of ethics could lose membership status with the organization. Members should desist publishing any derogatory articles about fellow community members.
· President Saras mentioned about 41 journalists being put in prison in Iran and especially mentioned about one Canadian Iranian journalist being held in prison in Iran. President expressed his concern over the unrest in Iran. NEPMCC would send its concerns over the journalists in Iran to the Iranian Embassy.
· Motion: Thomas Saras moved a motion seconded by Srimal Abeyawardene empowering NEPMCC to send a letter to the Iranian Embassy, strongly condemning the treatment meted out to journalists in Iran. Dr. Lamba had reservations about the motion since the concerned journalist belonged to the mainstream media. Alamgir Hussain, Muhammad Bukhari Srimal Abyeawardene and other members expressed their views on the issues.  Dr. Lamba voted against the motion. Rest of the members present voted in favour of the motion.
· Muhammad Ali Bukhari urged the council that members abide by ethics and NEPMCC should condemn any inappropriate funding received by any fellow member from any government body.
· Labour Day weekend to be held at the CNE. Members should indicate how many would attend the ethnic press festival in order to obtain the passes. The CNE passes would be distributed to the members in the next monthly meeting.
· Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff wrote a letter to the President thanking him for giving him the opportunity to meet with the council.
Dr. Lamba received the nominations for the awards. The decision would be taken next month. The committee is going to closely scrutinize on all nominations before the finalizing the list this year.  A matter of dispute between two members of the council was brought before the office of the ombudsman. The office of the ombudsman has advised all the concerned parties of its decision. The matter of dispute arose when one of the members published some derogatory remarks about the fellow member in his publication. An apology by the member has been published in the same page where the alleged article was published on the advice and directive of the ombudsman. The office of the ombudsman is not for settling any monetary dues and it is not in the jurisdiction of the ombudsman as claimed by one member involved in the dispute. The council is meant to promote professionalism and the Ombudsman reiterated that point. Dr Lamba also mentioned that he received complaint from one of the members regarding a Government advertising run by a fellow member. Dr. Lamba mentioned that he went over the complaint and decided the issue did not have any merit for passing any ruling. There are independent government bodies which are responsible for distributing government ads and it is not up to NEPMCC to ask any government body to stop running ad in any particular newspaper.
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