Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on April 08, 2024, through video conference via Zoom.

Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on April 08, 2024, through video conference via Zoom.

Present/Attendees

Thomas S. Saras

Mohammad Tajdolati

Neel Nanda

Maria Saras-Voutsinas

Rosemary Sadlier

Ricky Castellvi

George Guzman

Bill Fastis

Nishantha Don

Hon. Basilio Giordano

George Bakoyiannis

Dimitri Papadopoulos

AR Nathan

Arif Ahmed

Zenaida Ferry

Ravi

Ranjit Wicks

Hermie Garcia

Ghulam Rasool

Manan Gupta

Elsayed Nasr

Khalid Hamid

Thanasis Kourtesis

John Saraidaris

Ernesto Donan

Martha Pinzon

Nishantha Don

Bridgette Fontille

Sukumar Tamil Journal

Roberto Hausman

Jonathan Annobil

Emmanuel Ayiku

Mohammad Bagher Samimi

Kathy Gerasklis

Rick Esquerra

Mila Garcia

Medhat Oweida

Syed Hasson

Sima Ghaffarzadeh

Shahidul Mintu

Lui Queano

Denis Poirier

Jennifer Zhu

Hon. Joe Volpe

Ayubowan Sri Lanka

Leila Monteiro Lins

Deborah Shatz

Gezahegn Mekonnen

Daniela Spirlac

Lankathas Pathmanathan

Susana Donan

Kethes Kumar

Michael Li

Shail Prasad

Essie

Veronica Cusi

Ragee Arasaratnam

Fiza Syeda

Yuri Natchetoi

Khalid Hamid

Michale Li

Maria Swietorzecki

Lucy Lyang

Elsayed Nasr

George Guzmas

MB Samimi

Susana Donan

Neel Nanda

Mohammad Tajdolati

Olga Kaleev

AR Nathan

Ragee

Nishantha Don

Ayuban SriLanka

Basilio Giordano

Manan Gupta

Ernesto Donan

Kathy Lin

Sima Ghaffarzadeh

Denis Poirier

Ghanian News

Fiza Syeda

Rue Hayer-Bains

Leila Monteiro- Lins

Eugenia Bakchinow

Ghulam Rasool

Ranjith Wicks

Kathy Gerasklis

Hermie Garcia

Luba Cherny

Helen Wang

Taso Chatzitheofanou

Sean Pickard

Jonathan Annobil

Said Henry

(Names as per Zoom)

Mila Garcia

Goyum

Tausif

Zuhair Alshaaer

MB Samimi

Gonzalo Cooper

Thomas Saras

Ragee Arasaratnam

Mohammad Tajdolati

Ned Blair

Helen Wang

Dimitri Papadopoulos

Pooyan Tabatabaei

Elsayed Nasr

Margaret Bonikowska

Ernesto Donan

Susana Donan

Yuri Natchetoi

Deborah Shatz

Roberto Hausman

Tamil Journal

Olga Kileev

Neel Nanda

Hermie Garcia

Kathy Gerasklis

Rosemary Sadlier

Shahidul Mintu

George Guzmas

Basilio Giordano

Logan Logendralingam

John- CCTimes

Lucy Lyang

Elena Iliadi

Houman

Kamal Nava

Ayubowan SriLanka

Liisa Qureshi

AR Nathan

Martha Pinzon

Zenaida Ferry-Kharroubi

Ghulam Rasool

Jennifer Zhu

Syed Hassan

Shail Persaud

Agenda of the day:

  • Welcome Remarks by the chair.
  • Minutes of the previous meeting
  • President’s Report/Discussions
  • New Members/New Business
  • Adjournment

 

 

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Mohammed Tajdolati chaired the virtual monthly meeting of April 08, 2024, and declared the meeting open. Roberto Hausman moved a motion to approve the agenda. Pooyan Tabatabaei seconded it. The motion was carried unanimously.

 

Minutes of the previous meeting:

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

 President’s Report/Discussions:

  • President Thomas Saras welcomed everyone to the online monthly meeting of April 8, 2024. He hoped the coming months will be great for everyone.  He also reminded members to pay their annual membership fees to continue to get the benefits and privileges as a member of NEPMCC.
  • President Thomas Saras mentioned that LJI and Student Internship Program has been updated for the next three years.
  • Motion: Miniter of Heritage demanded a coordinator to be a liaison between the federally run LJI and Student Internship programs and NEPMCC. The name of Maria Saras Voutsinas was suggested as the coordinator of the Federally run programs. George Guzmas moved the motion supporting Maria Saras as the coordinator of the Federally run programs funded by the Ministry of Canadian Heritage. Shahidul Islam Mintu seconded it. The motion was unanimously carried.
  • President Thomas Saras suggested that the Freedom of Press Festival be held on May 10 at City Hall. The suggestion was unanimously carried. There will be a reception at the City Hall.
  • Margaret Bonikowska suggested of raising the membership fee. She also suggested that we need to spend resources in upgrading the website of NEPMCC. There were various discussions regarding this. Many members contributed their ideas towards upgrading the website. Pooyan Tabatabaei, George Guzmas, Dimitri Papadopoulous, Liisa Qureshi and others participated in the discussion. It was decided that a committee would look into the suggestions of upgrading NEPMCC website.  Hermie Garcia, Yuri Natchetoi, Tamil Journal, Zuahir Alshaaer volunteered to be a part of this committee.

  • President Thomas Saras mentioned that Educational Seminar will be held next year. The office of the President of NEPMCC is working towards the educational seminar and more updates will be provided after finalizing the logistics.
  • President Thomas Saras informed the members that any members receiving funds from either LJI or Aid to Publications should declare that they have received funding funds from the Government of Canada. He also mentioned that anyone writing an article under LJI should acknowledge that he is a LJI reporter.
  • President Thomas Saras mentioned that in person meeting at City Hall will resume once broadcasting from City Hall will be permitted by technological requirements. President Thomas Saras wants `the meeting to be accessible to members in all parts of Canada.
  • President Thomas Saras mentioned that NEPMCC has been trying hard to negotiate a better deal from Google regarding the compensation for the members of the ethnic media industry.
  • President Thomas informed members about the Freedom of Press Festival in May. Motion: There was a motion on the floor to approve the expenses for the freedom of press festival, which would take place on May 10 at the City Hall. Kathy Lin moved a motion and Leila Monteiro Lins seconded it. The motion was carried unanimously.
  • Naga Logendralingam suggested that we should honour journalists who have lost their lives for the cause of the freedom of the press. Hon. Joe Volpe suggested that this should be brought to the attention of the committee.
  • President Thomas Saras thanked Hon Joe Volpe and all other members who generously donated to NEPMCC. Although the industry and members of NEPMCC are struggling financially, he encouraged everyone that can do so to donate. He also reminded the members for renewing their membership by paying their annual membership fees.
  • There were various discussions on the method of payment of Annual Membership fees as some members suggested e-transfer and other methods of payments. After various consultation it was decided to keep the existing payment method of payment of Annual Membership fees via cheque mailed to the office of NEPMCC

New Business/New Members

Maria Saras Voutsinas informed that “What Jennifer Di” a documentary based on the story of Jennifer Pan and co-produced by one of the members of NEPMCC, Paul Nguyen is releasing in Netflix on April 10 and is highly rated by the critics.

Adjournment:  Dimitri Papadopolous moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and George Guzmas 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, May 13, 2024, via Zoom.

The above notes from the minutes of April 08, 2024, were prepared by Secretary General and Senior VP of the NEPMCC, Neel Nanda.