The real danger in moving into a post modern and neoliberal ized economy is that as a community, the general public is facing a repeat of taxation without representation problem faced by the founding fathers in our larger neighbor to the south during the independence war of 1775.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War
However, instead of facing a political situation where taxes are funding foreign powers to the detriment of American colonial interests, ours are instead funding neoliberal aspirations to the detriment of local constituents. This situation isn’t localized to Canada, but our accepting and apathetic nature with regards to political involvement combined with the problems inherent within our political system has made us an especially juicy target for neo-liberal economic interests. The marketing behind the success of the tar sands, now rebranded the “oil sands” are an excellent example of this exploitive attitude where industry and jobs take precedent over long term goals and community development.
Greenpeace report on Tar Sands (Admittedly biased but still useful)
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/Global/canada/report/2012/07/GP-ShellReport-WEB.pdf
With the way that first nations communities have faced adversity, owned their problems and attempted to move forward within the limited framework they have been subjected to, the real inspiration that we should be looking to are their adaptations and just how they have managed to adapt to the exploitative system. The entire colonial system, and the vestiges of left over policy, was designed from the ground up to create a discrepancy of power to the disadvantage of first nations communities. This is where the real danger and power of effective marketing needs to be addressed because the public complacency with regards to the development is at least partly due to piles of money that corporate and neo-liberal interests have poured into it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1mZMOP-wbY
The real strength and potential existing in first nations communities across Canada comes from the cohesiveness of the people living in them and the horrid conditions that the colonial conversion process subjected upon them. Despite all the horrid conditions that still need to addressed within Canadian first nations communities, the parallels between the colonial and neoliberal situations dictate that the successes (however few and far between) should be examined and applied directly to both first nations reserves facing difficulty and conflicts concerned with neo-liberal privitization.
Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Although social change and class upheaval typically only personifies in the face of great suffering, the Canadian working public’s vigilance becomes more necessary every day. In the face of declining liberty, it would be preferable that the public becomes socially involved before they become victims of the process or lack of therein.