Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on August 11, 2025, at City Hall, 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 Yang
Elsayed Nasr
George Guzmas
MB Samimi
Susana Donan
Rupinder Rue Hayer-Bains
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
Margaret Bonikowska
Abi Kethees
Said Henry
(Names as per Zoom)
Mila Garcia
Goyum
Tausif
Zuhair Alshaaer
MB Samimi
Gonzalo Cooper
Thomas Saras
Ragee Arasaratnam
Mohammad Tajdolati
Ned Blair
Zuhair
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
Ramsankr Sivanathan
Agenda of the day:
- Welcome Remarks by the chair.
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- President’s Report/Discussions
- Presentation by Ben Chhiba – Graduate Student Intern City of Mississauga
- New Members/New Business
- Adjournment
Welcome Remarks by the Chair:
Mohammed Tajdolati chaired the hybrid meeting of August 11, 2025, and declared the meeting open. Roberto Hausman
Nishantha Don Siyambalapitiyage moved a motion to approve the agenda. George Guzmas 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 George Guzmas seconded it. Minutes of the previous monthly meeting were approved unanimously.
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President’s Report/Discussions:
- President Thomas Saras welcomed everyone to the monthly meeting of August 11, 2025.
- President Thomas Saras met with the federal officials in Ottawa, regarding funds and budget for ethnic media.
- President Thomas Saras informed members that there is a new government Federally, and there may be short delays in getting funding under various programs. The LJI may be extended by 6 months. President Thomas Saras informed that LJI program may start with a few amendments. More information will be circulated about the payment cycle once we get an official confirmation from the Government.
- CNE President Thomas Saras informed the members that the opening ceremony of the NEPMCC booth will take place on August 16. Members were urged to bring twenty-five copies of their publications, including their three best editorials.
- President Thomas Saras informed that NEPMCC has booked a booth at the CNE. The booth will be in the same location as of the previous years, next to the International Stage in Hall B of the Enercare Centre. There will be a reception for the members attending at the Green Café Beer Garden followed by the ribbon cutting opening ceremony of the booth.
- President Thomas Saras mentioned that printing costs are rising and many printing companies are shutting down due to increasing costs. He suggested that with the available funds with NEPMCC and a bank loan, NEPMCC could buy a machine for printing newspapers. Hon Joe Volpe suggested of creating committee for setting up the purchase for the printing machinery and equipment.
- President Thomas Saras informed members that he is hoping that federal Government will improve Aid to Publishers Program and increase Federal Government Advertising.
- President Thomas Saras thanked Maria Voutsinas for her tireless work towards the betterment of the members of NEPMCC.
- Thomas Saras informed the members that the LJI program initially will be for 6 months. The internship program is on hold for now and there will be information once more updates are received from the Ministry.
- President Thomas Saras mentioned about the upcoming Educational Seminar. He said a survey will be send out to members to a need analysis of the courses that members would like to take during the educational seminar.
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- President Thomas Saras mentioned that NEPMCC will working towards creating a foundation for the members who need help during a crisis.
- 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 thatanyone authoring an article under LJI should acknowledge that he is a LJI reporter.
- 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.
- Members of NEPMCC receive numerous benefits and for NEPMCC to continue supporting its members, it is necessary for members to pay their membership fees on time.
- 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.
Presentation by Ben Chhiba – Graduate Student Intern, City of Mississauga
Ben Chhiba is leading the development of a multilingual media engagement strategy to help the City of Mississauga better reach residents who speak non-official languages. This includes outreach to ethnic media, preparing a final report and supporting a multilingual staff roster for future translation needs. He hopes to get input from the members of the council and requested all the members to share their opinions via a survey. The link is below.
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/4ecc071ba78b42219121f3587bf35f73
Hon Joe Volpe, George Guzmas, Liisa Qureshi, Neel Nanda and other members participated in the discussions and gave their opinions on this project.
New Business/New Members
Maria Saras Voutsinas updated on the status of funds regards to LJI. Further information will be communicated about the cheques and electronic devices. More information will be available in the meeting in September.
Maria Saras-Voutsinas asked members to email her regarding the number of tickets, each member requires for the CNE. She emphasized that the tickets are meant for the opening ceremony of the NEPMCC booth at the CNE on August 16
Adjournment: George Guzmas moved a motion to adjourn the meeting, and Yuri Natchetoi 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 September 08, 2025, via Zoom.
The above minutes of August 11,2025 were prepared by Secretary General and Senior VP of the NEPMCC, Neel Nanda.