Meeting Minutes - Feb. 13, 2006

NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA MINUTES OF THE MEETING of 13th of February, 2006 AT THE MAIN LEGISLATIVE BUILDING committee  Room #2, QUEENS PARK, TORONTO, ONTARIO.   Present: Thomas S. saras Clyde McNeil Bikram Lamba, Dr. Ahmed Shah Hotaki Iraj Emad Mehrdad Arejounoyad Tanas Jovanovski Hasan Yilmaz D. Ubale, Dr Kenrick Boob, Secretary Teshome Woldeamannuel Azamuir Hussain Massood Mashad Mohamed Tajdolati Srimal Abeyewardene Naga Lohrndrily Jeffrey James Maryam Aghvani Senior V-P William Doyle Marshall Pooyan Tahabaei Tania Nuttall Tryfon Haitas Abdur Rahim Valery Romano John Saraidaris Neil Armstrong Stephanie Williams Emily Mills Max Wynter Senior VP Anne Dawson Controller Danielle Zhu Roland Isoj Hermie Garcia Absent: Neel Nanda (Out of Canada) Aris Babikian The Chairman Mr. Clyde McNeil called the meeting and welcomed all the members. The President Thomas S. Saras gave his report; Mr. Saras said that some sort of break down in the communications was created from the fact that some members change their own emails therefore they are not receiving the e-mails of the organization. He told the members every one who does not receive e-mails to give the correct e-mail address. The president explained the raw deal the Ottawa Civil Servants gave the Council following several meetings and discussions held which failed to reach an agreement or provide any Federal advertising. "We done almost everything to our powers and we received assurances time and again that the ads are coming, we are still waiting for them." He went on to state the association with poor coffers spent over $2500 for meeting halls and food to meet the responsible Civil Servants from Ottawa who failed to give a valid reason as to why the members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada were not given Federal Advertising. Further the president expressed his dissatisfaction with the group of people from PWC who were responsible for the program. “There were moments that I though they tried to rupture the unity of the organization for reasons that I am unable to know,” he said. “My question therefore is if and how much we must trust them for the future under this circumstances” he added. The President was a very disappointed man as he traveled to Ottawa with other members several times in his efforts to strike a deal; "We done almost everything to our ability and we showed our good will and intensions for cooperation, instead we experienced unwillingness and a dose of refusal from them and also the names they accepted in the new list in the vast majority are from members who accepted to pay 30% to private agencies. This is the reason I am asking an explanation from Cossette Media and the Department of Public Works." He explained that the Liberal Government and the Civil Servants in Ottawa bluffed the association promising the Federal Advertising but never delivered. He said this was a sad state of affairs. However, there was hope with the new government of Prime Minister Steven Harper. Mr. Saras said that he made already contact with the PMO and the leader of the NDP and he was expecting to meet them both the beginning of April. For this reason explained he was prepared to travel to Ottawa with a number of members of the board willing to go with him. The president also said that he received assurances from the PMO that new directions will be issued to PWC for the handling of the affairs of the Ethnic Press and that this Government was ready to ask them to eliminate the private agencies from the list of the recipients of federal advertisement. There are people in the Prime Minister’s staff, explained Mr. Saras that I know and I trust them and I am confident that the new  Government of Mr. Harper will pay attention to our plea and therefore may have a positive plan to assist the sector of the Ethnic Press. At the same time I also trust Jack Layton and the NDP that they will support our just cause. Earlier Mr. Saras forwarded a 'Thank You' card sent by Liberal Member of Federal Parliament the Hon. Jim Karagannis to the Ethnic Press, following his election victory with a massive majority of over 20,000 votes and the support extended by the Council. The next matter that came up was how the annual awards are been awarded. In this case a unanimous decision was taken by the membership to appoint our Ombudsman the learned man Dr. Ubale,to give a full report at the next sessions of the Council.   Dr. Ubale accepted. At this point Srimal Abeyewardene pointed out an independent panel should be appointed to decide who receives these awards. Thomas Saras, reminded that there is a special committee of Awards and Honours under the chairmanship of Dr Ubale and it is up to the members of this committee to accept new members. There was good news from President Thomas Saras that the Ethnic Press will shortly get a permanent office at the City Hall. It was stated Mayor David Miller will address on this matter at the next meeting. Mr. Saras said the office has to be equipped with furniture, computers and telephone facilities as well as with an individual to serve the needs of the Council. He said this office would be a permanent space for the Council. At this stage accounts report was submitted. He said all the accounts were paid and the monies were collected from private donations mainly of friends of the President. It is very important that in the future if each member of each community collects some donations so that we would have the minimum of $20,000 required for the business of the organization each year. The president also added that he would request the Provincial Government to help by providing some financial assistance to our organization. We have VP finance, said the president, yet nothing comes from his office except criticism. The question of private media companies were taking 30% of the advertisements received by members was mentioned. Mr. Saras said this was not acceptable as nobody has the authority to negotiate on behalf of the sector to keep money for his company. It was also mentioned the Council Website receiving over 2000 inquirers per month.  Senior Vice President Max Wynter, complained that there were too many awards given away each year. At this stage Dr Ubale made a statement about awards. He said in the past we were very liberal giving away awards. He said in the future we must limit the number of awards and decide criteria and we should consider only “enormous contributions made by each and every member of the Ethnic Press and the leadership of the various communities”. According to Dr. Ubale: “ Nobody should feel you have been let down if you fail to receive an award at a certain time. Always you can try again.” He said there should be no political interference and all nominations should have a full dossier on the merit and strictly timetable He said he will chair the new committee in order to change the whole nomination process. The house voted unanimously requesting Dr Ubale give a full report at the 13 of March 2006 meeting. Dr Ubale asked the members to submit to him ideas regarding the development of the new rules by February the 28th, 2006. Due to the fact that the special committee of the organization to advise the PWC was inactive until today and only one individual without jurisdiction was making contact, the President suggested a reorganization of this committee, the motion accepted and the new members effective immediately voted :   Clyde McNeil Massood Mansoorsadeh Luba Cherny Shrimal Abeyewardene William Doyle Marshall and Dr. Lamba Mr. Thomas S. Saras, remains ex officio member of this committee as well as any other else. The members of the new committee should come together as soon as possible in order to organize themselves. A second committee for the preparation of the annual book of the organization has been elected and new dates have been set for the preparation of the book, for June of 2007. Kenrick Boob Srimal Abeyewardene Alamgir Hussain Pooyan Tabatabaei Maryam Aghvani Bikram Lamba. Jeffrey Jiang, from Epoch Times addressed the meeting asking the support of the members for problems facing the papers and the reporters as they continually victimized in China and the USA. He was referred to Senior VP Max Wynter, responsible for policy matters to look into their situation and address it further. Massood Mashad,made a comment that we need a funding committee so all the work does not rest on one person. A motion was passed that the President and Treasurer should go ahead and write a cheque for our participation to Word on The Street Festival. Massood  Mashad, insisted that we do have enough plans for the year 2006 and all we need is to confirm and make them work properly. Kenrick Bobb, said that for the New Year he wished to see the meetings be used more effectively for the furtherance of the Council and its members. We should set aside that time to work on the business and hand and cut back on the many guests we receive during the monthly meetings, and also we shall keep the punctuality of the business of the meetings. Dr. Ubale suggested that the President could e-mail his report and if there are any important points they can be discussed at the meeting. Max Wynter said that he is willing to chair a meeting for ½ hour from 8.30 to discuss policy issues.   Clyde McNeil mentioned that he was sending editorials to the president in hopes of discussions but nothing materialized. Thomas Saras, commented that this was a lovely idea. Was put to vote accepted unanimously and agreed to start from the next meeting. Clyde McNeil, mentioned that the questionnaire by Prof. John Miller of the Ryerson University on behalf of the Canadian Heritage is being circulated and should be answered as soon as possible. Kenrick Boob, the Secretary of the Organization announced that he will be leaving the country on March 1st for urgent family business and should be away for a period of one or two months, during this period he will be unable to attend the meetings but he is naming as his proxy the President, for any decision. At this point a motion was moved to adjourn the business of the meeting until March the 13th. The motion carried.     (Compiled by Srimal Abeyewardene and Kenrick Bobb)