A dozen children make a suicide pact in Attawapiskat. A house fire kills nine members of a family — three of them children under 5 — in Pikangikum. Two-thirds of all First Nation communities have been under at least one drinking water advisory over the past decade. Only four out of 10 young adults living on reserve finish high school, compared with nine out of 10 non-Aboriginal Canadians. Indigenous children are twice as likely to live in poverty as other kids. If you’re paying attention, the bad news seems endless.

My heart breaks every time I learn of disaster and pain striking a First Nation community. It breaks, first, for the reality of the situation. But it breaks a second time, for the sick feeling in my stomach that nothing will happen to change this bleak reality — at least, not nearly quickly enough.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I spent 24 years working as a lawyer, policy adviser and negotiator for the Canadian government. I sat across the table from First Nations leaders of many nations, as we struggled, together, to forge the compromises that would advance our respective interests. I sat around federal government tables with civil servants and ministers as we struggled to develop the fixes (for what we knew was broken) that would gain both cabinet approval and First Nations buy-in.

I know this field well and can say with certainty that there are successful First Nations in Canada that provide models of what self-governing communities can be. There are modern treaties and self-government agreements that provide concrete evidence of what respectful government-to-government relationships look like. There are countless smart, courageous and visionary Aboriginal leaders who have responsibly and strategically led their nations to a brighter future. And there are smart, caring and responsive officials in federal and provincial governments alike who strive to partner with aboriginal leadership in the drive to a brighter future.

What is missing is understanding and commitment. Canadians across this land must understand the history that got us here, and recognize the legal, moral and even economic imperatives to changing the facts on the ground now.

The current legal framework that governs the lives of First Nations people and communities is bankrupt. The gaps that persist between aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life chances on virtually every socio-economic indicator are morally indefensible. And tolerating the related inability of aboriginal Canadians to fulfill their extraordinary potential as contributing members of their own communities and Canadian society more generally is economically short-sighted.

The legal landscape has been dramatically changed over the past three decades by a series of landmark Supreme Court of Canada decisions. Just last month, the court recognized that Métis and Non-Status Indians do come within Parliament’s jurisdiction under the Constitution Act, 1867 (a result that successive federal governments have resisted forever). Perhaps this decision will be the catalyst for a fundamental re-think of the entire legal framework that governs Aboriginal Peoples’ rights and related government responsibilities.

In the end, though, while judges, business and thought leaders, journalists, politicians and activists can help to re-shape the parameters of the conversation, Canadians from coast to coast need to believe that the status quo is unacceptable and to care enough to demand action. Our governments will only make the required financial, legal and political investments to chart a brighter and more just future, and commit themselves to the partnerships with Aboriginal leaders that alone can bring that future into being, when all Canadians hold them accountable for doing just that.

SPECIAL TO MONTREAL GAZETTE, May 26, 2016