Meeting Minutes - May 09, 2005

Minutes of the monthly meeting held at Queen's Park on May 09, 2005 Present: Thomas Saras Srmial Abeyawardene Neel Nanda Maxwell Wynter Clyde McNeil Hassan Zerehi Anne Dawson Kenrick Bobb Danielle Zhu B. Ubale Dominique Leval Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed Shah Hotaki Marek J. Cooldyn William Doyle Marshall Jai Maharaj Emmanuel Ayiku Iraj Emad Majid Mirjohari Emilly Mills Naid Blair Mohamed Taljolati Cindy Gu Aaron Behrane Aris Babikian John Saraidaris Hermie Garcia Luba Cherny Hasan Yilmaz Tanya Nutal Absent: Elizabeth Wolski Dirk Tissera Mona Feng   Agenda   1. Opening Remarks by the Chair   2. Minutes of the previous meeting   3. President’s Report   4. New Business   5. End of meeting The Chair, Clyde McNeil welcomed everyone to the meeting. Before proceeding with the regular business, he asked the recording secretary to read the minutes of the previous monthly meeting   Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Kenrick Bobb moved a motion seconded by Srimal Abeyawardene to approve the minutes of the monthly meeting held on April 11, 2005. It was carried. President's Report/Discussions: Thomas Saras began his report by informing the Council that the roundtable meeting with Jack Layton, leader of the NDP (in the House of Commons) is postponed since Jack Layton was away on an official trip in Europe with the Prime Minister and would return late on Monday May 09, 2005. The President said he would update the members about the new date of this roundtable meeting. He said the month of April was very busy and productive. He told the Council that on April 25, 2005 we met with the leader of the opposition S. Harper (House of Commons) and on the same afternoon we met with the Prime Minister. The meeting with the Prime Minister was arranged on a short notice from Minister Joe Volpe and the PMO. The President submitted the names of the executive of the NEPMCC to them. They  tried to contact the executive members by phone and only those members who were reached on the day before the meeting were confirmed for the meeting with the Prime Minister on the following day (April 25) at the Royal York Hotel The President mentioned that Hon. Joe Volpe, the minister for citizenship and immigration Canada was also present during the meeting with the Prime Minister. Around 20 members of the Executive NEPMCC were also present during the meeting. There were various issues discussed during the meeting. The members discussed issues facing their respective communities as well as issues affecting the general public and the ethnic press. During the meeting the issue of government advertising on ethnic media was brought up by Srimal Abeyawardene and discussed with the Prime Minister. Thomas Saras informed the Prime Minister that the Council would later meet with the Department of Public Works to discuss this issue. The Hon. Joe Volpe, also expressed interest to be present during the meeting with the Public Works. During the meeting the Prime Minister promised all possible help on the issues brought up by the various communities. Thomas Saras, informed the Council of the meeting that took place on April 22 with Hon. Bill Graham, who is the federal Minister of National Defense and was the former External Affairs Minister. During the meeting the Minister briefed the members of the NEPMCC of the various policies introduced by his ministry. The Minister mentioned that Department of Defense is encouraging and recruiting more members from the ethnic communities into the Canadian armed forces. During this meeting the issue of advertising on the ethnic media was also brought up and the Minister said due to budgetary restrictions the Department of Defense is unable to increase advertising on media for the first fiscal year as the Armed Forces had other priorities to meet. The minister  hoped that in the next fiscal year the Department of Defense would be able to allocate more funds on advertising in ethnic media. Thomas Saras mentioned that on Saturday April 23, he attended a special session of the Labour Council and made a presentation on behalf of the Council. Thomas Saras, informed the Council that he received an email from the Department of Public Works to set up a date for a meeting on the ongoing dialogue. Thomas Saras suggested that the meeting be held in Toronto so that a large number of the members could attend it. Thomas Saras also suggested that the meeting be held on a Wednesday or Thursday morning. Thomas Saras recommended that the NEPMCC cover the expenses for the boardroom to be used for the meeting as the department of Public Works is covering the travelling expenses for its officials. To this effect Max Wynter moved a motion and Kenrick Bobb seconded it. It was carried by all. Thomas Saras, told the Council that on Thursday May 05, he met with the Attorney General of Ontario. He said that he had very good and open discussion with the Attorney General. The President urged the Attorney General to include members of the ethnic communities in the government appointed judiciary committees. Thomas Saras was also told during the meeting that the Law Society of Upper Canada would send an invitation to the members of the ethnic media for an information sharing session that will educate the readership of the ethnic press to better understand the programs and various initiatives undertaken by the Law Society. Thomas Saras then told the members to submit the names of the individuals, who will be recognized in the annual function this year.   Discussions/ New Business Ned Blair inquired on the kind of preparation the Council does before meeting with any government representative. Many members contributed their views on the steps and preparation that needs to be taken before meeting any government representative. Aris Babikian suggested of writing a suggestion paper before meeting with any government representative. Aris Babikian also suggested that the Armenian Community Centre could be utilized for hosting the meeting with Public Works Canada Thomas Saras recommended keeping the minutes of the meeting with Public Works, which would be later posted on the web site of the NEPMCC Dominique Leval informed the Council that many members have submitted their pictures and profiles to her for publishing them in the internal directory of the NEPMCC. She also said that she met with a non- profit group in the peel region that serves the communities in that region and wondered whether the NEPMCC could get involved with the group for any future endeavor. Dominique Leval asked for suggestions on how the Francophone publications could be integrated with the Council, since there are various ethnic communities in Canada who speak and communicate in French. Thomas Saras suggested that Dominique Leval approach the French publications inside and outside of Quebec that serve the multi ethnic communities and invite them to join the Council in an effort to organize the industry. Iraj Emad volunteered to contact the members by phone and confirm their participation and attendance before any important meeting with any external agency. Ahmed Mohammed informed the council that he met with Max Wynter on April 18 to discuss the role of his committee. Emily Mills passed around copies of the latest student magazine from Ryerson School of Journalism- Ryerson University. She spoke of an event called honey jam that involves only young female artists and will be held on August 14. The auditions of this event begin on June 5 and those interested in publishing it in their entertainment section of the publication can do so to encourage female artists in Canada. Hermie Garcia told the council that PEN Canada have also joined the movement to take concrete actions against journalist killed over the last few years in Philippines. Srimal Abeyawardene informed the Council that a journalist was recently killed in Sri Lanka, he would draft the statement condemning it and submit it to Maxwell Wynter, Senior VP in charge of Public Policy. The chair of the meeting Clyde McNeil made a pitch that the Liberal Party of Canada advertises with the NEPMCC and as soon as he gets any response in this matter, he will inform the President. He informed the Council that he would be interviewing the police chief of Toronto, Bill Blair and he would like to invite the police chief to one of the monthly meetings if the members agree on his idea. The Council welcomed his idea and agreed on his suggestion. Clyde McNeil suggested the Council review the constitution of the NEPMCC to recommend the necessary amendments if required. In this regard he moved a motion to establish a committee that will review the constitution in the coming months. Kenrick Bobb seconded it and was seconded by all. The committee will consist of the following members Max Wynter Kenrick Bobb Clyde McNeil Cindy Gu Anne Dawson Iraj Emad Ahmed Mohammed.   End of meeting: Maxwell Wynter moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, which was carried by all The chair, Clyde McNeil adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. The next meeting would take place on June 13, 2005, committee room # 2, from 6 to 9 pm, at Main Legislative building, Queens Park, Toronto.