Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on August 11, 2025

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.