In downtown Vancouver on September 12, activists in solidarity with the Standing Rock protesters occupied a TD Bank, one of several Canadian financial institutions backing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

TD’s support for the project shouldn’t be surprising. As Canada’s economy now heavily relies on the finance sector and resource extraction industries, many corporations invest in such international projects. TD’s recent history exemplifies this. In 2004, it expanded into the United States and is now the nineteenth largest bank in the world. Many of Canada’s largest corporations followed TD’s lead and now wreak havoc across the globe.

Since the beginning of the neoliberal era, Canada’s economy has become dominant in many ecologically destructive industries. This has upended traditional leftist analysis of Canada’s economy as one completely subservient to the United States. Canadian activists have begun organizing against them; international activists should do the same.