Meeting Minutes - Apr. 10, 2006

Minutes of the monthly meeting held at Queen's Park on April 10, 2006 Present: Thomas Saras Sremal Abeyawardene Clyde McNeil Hassan Zerehi Dr. Lamba Ahmed Shah Hotaki William Doyle Marshall Jai Maharaj Emmanuel Ayiku Emily Mills Aaron Behrane Taha Hassiani Iraj Emad Mohammad Tajdolati Danielle Zhu Trifon Haitas Sameylenko Elvira Shamroke Saeedi Massod Masaadi Tanas Jovanovski Neel Nanda Teshome Woldeammanuel Shida Wolsa Maryan Aghvani Hasan Yilmaz Rahim Moton Adnan Hasmi Aris Babikian John Saraidaris Luba Cherny Emily Mills Gerald Paul   Absent: Kenrick Bobb Elizabeth Wolski Cindy Gu Mona Feng Special Guests: Toronto Police Recruiting- Delegation. David Miller, Mayor of Toronto   Agenda:  1. Opening Remarks by the Chair  2. Presentation by Toronto Police. (Superintendent Peter Sloly, Staff Sergeant Peter Ngyuen, Sergeant Terri James)  3. Discussions with Mayor David Miller  4. End of meeting Opening Remarks by the Chair: Thomas Saras initially chaired the meeting and welcomed the members to the meeting.   Presentation by Toronto Police Employment Unit. Staff Superintendent Peter Sloly and the rest of his team made a presentation, followed by roundtable discussions. Thomas Saras, William –Doyle Marshall, Dr. Lamba, Srimal Abeyewardene, Adnan Hashmi, Clyde McNeil, and other members participated in the discussion. The following is the summary of the presentations and discussions -Toronto Police is in the process of massive recruitment. -Toronto Police will hire 493 new officers from the period December 2005 –December 2006. -Toronto Police should reflect the face, gender and all aspects of the community. -Toronto Police is facing stiff competition from the Department of Defense, RCMP, Peel Police and other GTA Police agencies in its recruiting process as they are looking to get the best talent pool from Toronto. -Toronto Police would engage ethnic media in the recruitment drive to get the message effectively in the community. -Toronto Police intends to be the "Employer of Choice". -Toronto Police would provide with stories and other resources to the ethnic publications in order to encourage ethnic youths to join the police force. -Recruitment brochures were handed to the members of the NEPMCC. -Toronto is the 4th largest municipal service in North America, giving more chances to its personnel to advance. -The barriers for promotion of ethnic origin officers are down and the doors for advancement are wide open. -Toronto Police uniform means professionalism, humanity and respecting human values. -Members of the NEPMCC were invited to the graduating ceremony of new constables on May 5 in Nathan Phillips Square. Thomas Saras and the Chair of the meeting Clyde McNeil thanked the guests for their time and promised all possible help in their recruitment drive to attract the best possible ethnic talent into the force.   Discussions with the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller. The Chair welcomed His Worship, David Miller and Don Wanaga, his Director of Communications to the meeting. There were discussions on a wide range of topics. Many members participated in the discussion. The summary of the presentation and roundtable discussions is as follows: -David Miller is proud to be the mayor of Toronto and the covering of the city by the ethnic media reflects that pride. -Mayor David Miller is carrying on his drive to beautify the city. -Entrepreneurial spirit shown by the ethnic press is admirable. -The Mayor has sanctioned an office for the NEPMC in city hall, which would be operational by fall of 2006. -"The City of Toronto Act" will give the truth a whole new dimension to the city. Thomas Saras and the chair thanked and congratulated David Miller on the City of Toronto Act and also thanked him for providing the much needed office space in City Hall. End of Meeting: Srimal Abeyewardene moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Masood Manzoorzadeh seconded it. It was carried by all. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:45 p.m. The next meeting would take place on May 08, 2006 at Queen’s Park.