Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on September 09, 2024, 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
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
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
Hermie Garcia
Luba Cherny
Helen Wang
Taso Chatzitheofanous
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 hybrid meeting of September 09, 2024, and declared the meeting open. Roberto Huzman moved a motion to approve the agenda. Dimitri Papadopoulos seconded it. The motion was carried unanimously.
Minutes of the previous meeting:
Roberto Huzman moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting and Helen Wang ( Manitoba) seconded it. Minutes of the previous monthly meeting were approved unanimously.
President’s Report/Discussions:
- President Thomas Saras welcomed everyone to the monthly meeting of September 9, 2024. He mentioned that the booth at the CNE was huge success.
- President Thomas Saras informed that Ontario government might allocate funds to ethnic publications based in Ontario.
- He mentioned that the internship program is ongoing. The council has received 90 applications.
- President Thomas Saras thanked Maria Voutsinas for her tireless work towards the betterment of the members of NEPMCC.
- The president 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.
- Motion: President Thomas Saras reminded the members of a previous resolution where it was approved to allocate funds to members who are working on the committees LJI, Internship program and Educational Seminar he proposed for this year the amount to be up to five thousand dollars for each one of them. Ernesto Donan moved the motion supporting the above, seconded by Dimitri Papadopoulos. The motion was unanimously carried.
- The president also mentioned that NEPMCC will working towards creating a foundation for the members who need help during a crisis, the foundation will help also journalists in crisis internationally and their families in case of jailed ones. The Motion approved unanimously.
- The president encouraged everyone to apply for the student internship program and LJI.
- The president mentioned that Educational Seminar will be held next year. The office of the President of NEPMCC is working towards the educational seminar to be organized with the Toronto Metropolitan University (School of Journalism) the first or second weekend of October 2025.and more updates will be provided after finalizing the planning.
- President Thomas Saras informed the members that any member receiving funds from either LJI, special measures to publishers or Aid to Publications should declare that they have received funding funds from the Government of Canada as ( Other Income) They don’t pay GST for this amount. He also mentioned that anyone authoring an article under LJI should acknowledge that he is a LJI reporter.
- The president 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.
- The president 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.
- The president Thomas Saras thanked Susana Donan for her generous donation of $12,000, Hon Joe Volpe for his generous donation of $3000, Dimitri Papadopolous for his generous donation of $2000, Hon Basilio Giordano for his donation of $2000. Kathy Lin for her generous donation of $5000. And all other members contributing financially to well being of the organization. The resident also thanked all other members who generously donated to NEPMCC financially or in kind. He also reminded the members for renewing their membership by paying their annual membership fees. 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.
- The president also mentioned the Annual Get- Together event, will be held on Friday evening December 20 at the Hunguarian Canadian Cultural Centre. Motion: There were discussions to increase the price of the entrance of the annual get-together to $70 as the catering costs are significantly increased over the years. Pooyan Tabatabaei moved a motion supporting the ticket price to be raised to $70 and Yuri Natchetoi seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously carried.
- 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.
- 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 for reasons of technicality.
New Business/New Members
Muhammad Ali Bukhari mentioned that journalists in Bangladesh is facing persecution after the civil unrest and mentioned a report by Reporters without Borders. A statement for the journalists facing persecution in Bangladesh would be followed and once the draft being approved would be forwarded to the Consulate General of Bangladesh in Toronto.
New Member – Christos Manikis BHMA, (Montreal). The chair and the President welcomed the new member to the council.
Adjournment: Hon Joe Volpe moved a motion to adjourn the meeting and Tamil Journal 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 21 ,2024, via Zoom.
The above notes from the minutes of September 09, 2024, were prepared by Secretary General and Senior VP of the NEPMCC, Neel Nanda.