ORDER-2021-21 : Appointment of Fatma Ulku Duru, 147 Pleasant St., to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term; said term to end on the last day of February 2023.

Transcript (~6 min @ 11:52)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 11:49 Jack Eccles: Five yes. Awesome. We can proceed with the first and only item on our agenda, Order 2021-21, appointment of Fatma Okuduru 147 Pleasant Street to the Human Rights Commission for three-year term set to end on the last day of February 2023. I believe we have the mayor,

▶ 12:08 Speaker 6: the nominee with us in the chat. Motion to suspend the rules so we can hear from the mayor and the

▶ 12:18 Jack Eccles: nominee. Second. Motion to suspend the rules made by President Grigoraitis, seconded by

▶ 12:24 Speaker 3: councillor mcmaster chairman eccles yes vice chair maladin councillor mcmaster

▶ 12:31 Speaker 3: yes so mcnaught yes council Migliorelli yes president Grigoraitis yes i guess

▶ 12:39 Speaker 2: mayor broder i'm bringing you in now and also ms duru as well good evening everybody

▶ 12:54 Speaker 3: Good evening.

▶ 12:55 Speaker 7: Chairman Nichols, do I have the floor, sir? Absolutely.

▶ 12:59 Paul Brodeur: Outstanding. I am delighted to be with you this evening to offer the candidacy of Ms. Duru for your consideration. I first met Fatma several years ago at, I want to say maybe our second annual Iftar dinner, and and managed to plunk down at her table. We had a conversation, hit it off right away. And she is a highly educated woman who comes to us from Turkey and really has an amazing story to tell about her and her husband and their experience coming over here and what that has entailed, particularly after a change in government over in Turkey. Her qualifications, her professional qualifications are outstanding, but folks should also understand that throughout her time here in Melrose, she has been an active member of the community attending the Iftar dinner, attending several other community events, the International Welcoming Dinner, some of the forums and other things that we've done and is genuinely interested and engaged in the work of the Human Rights Commission. And now more than ever, I think it's important to welcome voices like Ms. Duru's to the table. The Human Rights Commission is doing some incredible work, and they're going to, quite frankly, be called upon to do more as we're in a very challenging time in our community and in the country so i couldn't be more uh impressed with her uh desire to help to step forward and i uh give her my highest recommendation and turn the

▶ 14:56 Jack Eccles: floor over to her mr if you'd like to say a few words i think you're on mute thank you very much

▶ 15:11 Speaker 8: i'm so excited sorry so yes um i have been living here for four years and in my roles i follow up my husband for his education he came here for his master degree first of all i'm a i mean we are asylum seekers it's one of the reason um i want to apply i want to join this commission because now we can't go back our country and we now see that a some points now some we didn't see before but sometimes the communication and with others you know with other cultures are so important and to to learn from others that's why I want to join this organization sorry I am so excited

▶ 16:13 Jack Eccles: fantastic thank you any counselors which I speak by

▶ 16:21 Maya Jamaleddine: security thank you so much I wanted to thank you I think for stepping up I know know she has done outstanding work for our community she's been involved in so many different groups and helped on a personal like on other community members and with it's very genuine and her in helping others I know she is so excited to share her culture uh with our community and i'm um so excited as well to see her stepping up thank you so much fatma thank you very much and i would recommend for passage

▶ 17:12 Jack Eccles: second motion to recommend made by vice chairman seconded by councillor mcmaster

▶ 17:20 Speaker 3: chairman eccles yes vice chair maladin councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught

▶ 17:33 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, president Grigoraitis.

▶ 17:40 Jack Eccles: Yes, yes, unanimous congratulations. Mr. Thanks for joining us tonight.

▶ 17:46 Speaker 7: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr chairman members of the committee.