Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on September 13, 2021 through video conference via Zoom

Present/Attendees

Thomas S. Saras
Neel Nanda
Maria Saras-Voutsinas
Rosemary Sadler
Ricky Castellvi
Jonathan Annobil
Pooyan Tabatabaei
Nishantha Don
Lankathas Pathmanathan
Linda Karuks
Rue Hayer-Bains
George Guzmas
Serge Vankevich
Roberto Hausman
Arif Ahmed
Fiza Syeda
Denis Poirier
Arash Kharabi
Ragee Arasaratnam
Lydia Sun
Leila Monteiro Lins
Jonathan Annobil
Mohammed Bagher Samimi
Ali Mahmoud
Mohammad Tajdolati
Ghulam Rasool
Anfisa Lyasota
Ranjit Wicks
Sandie De Freitas
Norman Hart
Kathy L. L. Li
Wais Popalzai
Teshome Woldramanuel
Khalid Magram
Mooka Tamil
Bobby Wang
Maria Swietoizacki
Elizabeth Muzalc
Mike Kolososki
Joe Volpe
Susana Donan
S. Krishnalingan
Khalid Menan
Khalid Hamid
Helen Wang
Nagamany Logendralingam
Hermie Garcia
Mila Garcia
Nawrin Farah
Eugenia Bakchinow
Elsayed Nasr
Mizhard Bagant
Cezar Bangu
Gezahegn Mekonnen Demissie
Saad Alsafar
Rui Yang
Hai Tien Lin
Kumanan Thnambi
Kathy Wang
Ernesto Donan
Isa Melo
Thavapalan Kathiravelu
Yuri Natchetoi
John Saraidaris
Said Henry
Lui Queano
S. Krinalingam
Kumayan Thambi
Najibullah Popalzai
Hannan Mamun
Nobodip News
Ali Mahboub
Mulugeta Zergaba
Janusz Niemczyk
Denis Brito
Stensont A
Geetha Nangarajh
Syed Irbal
Mike Kolosowski
Boddy Wang
Muhacumad Naeem Ul Islam
Foe Jole
Thanapalan Kathivarelu
Dimitris Vohaitis
Daril Brar
Ahmad Rostamijam
Lalit Thakar
Lawrence Joseph
Ronny Yason
Khuvan Aftab
Abdul Azeem
Qazi AFRASIAB
Nawrin Farah
S Krishnalingam
Shaiful Horn
Ahmad Hotaki
Thomas Galgor
S. Sivamohan
Kathy Gerasklis
Athanasios Kourtesis
Kumanan Thambi
Tamil Muraka
Solomon Areinu
Bety Glothai
Salah Allam
Stena Allam
Elizabeth Muzale

Agenda of the day:

• Welcome Remarks by the chair.
• Minutes of the previous meeting
• Presentation by Paul Deegan, President and CEO News Media Canada
• President’s Report/Discussions
• New Members/New Business
• Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mohammed Tajdolati chaired the virtual monthly meeting and declared the meeting open. Roberto Hausman moved a motion to approve the agenda. Ranjit Wicks seconded it. The motion was carried.

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Thanasis Kourtesis moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting and Yuri Natchetoi seconded it. Minutes of the previous monthly meeting were approved unanimously.

Presentation by Paul Deegan of NMC:

Paul updated the group on the NMC’s work on having Google and Facebook pay for news. NEPMCC is working along the NMC and other industry partners to push the government to enact legislation.

President’s Report/Discussions:

• Thomas Saras welcomed everyone to the online monthly meeting of September 13, 2021. Mr. Saras informed the members that the LJI budget has been increased for the current year and for next year. He encouraged members that have not already done so to apply for funding. He also explained that the Internship Program will also continue and we are currently waiting for approval. Once we receive the approval, members will be encouraged to apply. We have a number of applications on file and those that are approved will be funded once the program begins.
• President Thomas Saras thanked all the members who generously donated to NEPMCC. Although the industry and our members are struggling financially, he encouraged everyone that is able to do so to make a donation.
• Thomas Saras urged the members to participate in different projects that are available. If there is lack of adequate participation, the funds would go back to its source and in future the allocations of such funds could be limited.
• Members who wish to participate in projects undertaken by NEPMCC (other than the LJI) must be in good standing and abide by all the codes governing the council. They should also pay all membership dues.
• The President is in touch with Federal Government and Provincial Government for funding members of NEPMCC during the ongoing Pandemic. President is scheduled to meet with representatives of both Federal and Provincial Government to request more funds for the struggling ethnic media industry.
• President Thomas Saras continued to educate members on various projects undertaken by NEPMCC and especially on the LJI. President Thomas Saras informed about the local initiative program The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada. Funding is available to eligible Canadian media organizations to hire an unemployed journalist or pay freelance journalists to produce civic journalism for underserved communities. The content produced will be made available to media organizations through a Creative Commons license so that Canadians can be better informed. He mentioned under this program a publisher can hire qualified journalist or a journalistic student in the final year and get up to a maximum of $30,000 per year. He mentioned that the program has been very successful and will close from accepting new applications on September 30, 2020, for the present cycle. He hoped that the program will continue to receive funds in future. The program also pays for mailing expenses of the copies of the publication to remote communities and provides special prepaid kits to members participating in the program.
• The president also encouraged all the members to apply for an ID or Media Pass of the organization. There are so many benefits; the president said that it is to one’s advantage to have it.

New Business/Discussions:

• Mr. Saras discussed meeting in person. He is hopefully that restrictions will be lifted in November so that we can begin meeting at City Hall again. We will continue to stream the meetings live over zoom for the members across Canada.
• The Awards Ceremony was discussed. Out of an abundance of caution, we will not be holding the ceremony in November. Having the event online is also not an option as out of respect to the awardees, we believe that this should be celebrated in person. Should public health lift gathering restrictions, our hope is to combine our Holiday Party in December with a smaller version of our awards ceremony. We will be recognizing 10 members during this event. Mr. Saras also expressed his hope that we will be able to host an Educational Seminar in 2022.

Adjournment:

Hon. Joe Volpe moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Thanasis Kourtesis seconded it. The motion was carried. The Chair Dr. Tajdolati adjourned the meeting at 8:15 PM. The next monthly meeting will take place on Monday, October 18, 2021 via Zoom.

The above notes from the meeting of September 13,2021 were prepared by Maria Saras-Voutsinas on behalf of the Secretary General and Senior VP of the NEPMCC, Neel Nanda.