Morning Brew: From G20 to $1150-Gs, Rossi's defiant march, Hyatt walkout begins, U of T to return native remains, second hand stores suffer due to bedbugs fears

A second class action lawsuit has been filed in Superior Court on behalf of citizens arrested during this year's G20 summit. The lawsuit, filed by Mike Barber and Miranda McQuade and representing around 1150 plaintiffs, names Toronto Police, Peel Police and the Attorney-General of Canada as defendants. The plaintiffs, which include property owners with vandalized storefronts, are represented by Charles Wagman; the suit alleges "that the policies, procedures, directives and orders of the defendants during the G20 authorized the following intentional torts: abuse of power, abuse of process, false arrest, false imprisonment, infliction of mental suffering, invasion of privacy and abuse of public office." It also cites conditions in the infamous Eastern Avenue detention centre and leaves open the possibility of adding individual officers as defendants.

Continuing a trend that sees him becoming arguably the second most entertaining mayoral hopeful, Rocco Rossi once again tackles the big issues and says he will attend the Labour Day parade on Monday, whether the Labour Council likes it or not. To be fair, Rossi says he was invited by an individual union. "I'm not crashing," he said Thursday. Rocco is confident there will be no clashes with council leaders because it would be "undemocratic". I'm certain they feel the same way.

Workers at the Hyatt Regency hotel walked out last night when talks went past the midnight deadline set by the union. Picketing began at 7:30 a.m. this morning on King Street. There is a rally scheduled at 5:30 p.m. in front of the hotel today, with workers returning to work Saturday. "All we are asking is that they not lock in the recession for their workers, because the recession is over in the hotel sector," said a union spokesperson. The hotel is scheduled to be the headquarters for TIFF next week.

Negotiations are almost complete between the University of Toronto and the Huron-Wendat Nation regarding the return of native remains from plundered ancestral graves, which were studied by UofT archaeologists and stored in now-decaying cardboard boxes. Talks have been going on for more than four years, and have not always been smooth. The Huron-Wendat believe that the bones of their ancestors contain their souls. Mass graves containing around 2000 First Nations people were dug up between 1950 and the latter 1970s and then studied at U of T. They are now stored in banker's boxes on campus. The Ontario Heritage Trust is apparently also in possession of remains that are not covered by the agreement and the Huron-Wendat are considering taking legal action against the provincial government.

And, perhaps not surprisingly, second hand stores in Toronto are taking a beating due to customer concerns over bedbugs. If you want to risk it, however, a 30-minute blast in the dryer should be enough to eradicate any stowaways.

Photo by jen ♫ in the blogTO Flickr pool.