This legislative session Maine has a historic opportunity.

LD 1626 is a bill currently before the Legislature that recognizes that Wabanakis — specifically the Penobscots, Passamaquoddies, and Maliseets — should have the same rights as 570 other Native peoples throughout the United States.

The bill addresses old and deep problems. Starting with its founding in 1820, Maine imposed its will on Wabanakis. The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act, passed in 1980, sought to remedy this injustice. Unfortunately, despite recognizing some Wabanaki rights, the settlement retained state power over the tribes.

Subsequent disputes have required protracted litigation, investigations, or referenda that almost always involve acrimony and distrust.

We all pay for disputes that are rooted at base in Wabanakis’ efforts to protect their rights to homelands they have occupied for millennia.

Many opponents of this bill fear that if the state relinquishes its power, then Wabanakis will impose new and onerous regulations on their non-Native neighbors. What I think they overlook is that the state already does this to Wabanakis.

What I also think they overlook is that cooperation makes it easier to solve problems. Consider an extraordinary and recent example of successful partnership. The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the TRC) was created in 2013 to examine the effects of Maine child welfare policies for Wabanakis. The commission examined how state policies had harmed Wabanaki families over the course of decades, even in violation of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

The TRC started work amid deep distrust. The Penobscots and the state were locked in a dispute over jurisdiction on the Penobscot River. Meanwhile, Passamaquoddies and State Police troopers were confronting each other over elver fishing rights. But instead of meeting in court or under the glare of police spotlights, then-Gov. Paul LePage and the five tribal chiefs all signed the agreement creating the commission. Wabanakis and non-Indians came to the discussions as equals.

Such equality was risky. Would Wabanakis use information to attack the state for unfair policies? Would the state treat Wabanaki stories of suffering with indifference? Because both sides — and especially Wabanakis — believed that they were going to be heard and treated as equals, the commission got results. It laid the foundation for important reforms in child welfare practices at the state level and also improved communication between tribal and state child welfare officials.

This work is incomplete but ongoing.

As the work of the TRC made clear, important work gets done when the state recognizes the tribes’ status. Not surprisingly, the commission’s first recommendation in its 2015 report was to “respect tribal sovereignty.”

Maine says it wants better relationships with its Wabanaki neighbors. For that to happen, the state needs to recognize that Wabanakis have rights parallel to those of all other Native American peoples in the U.S.

Pursuing justice should be justification enough for this bill, but LD 1626 will also strengthen Wabanaki-state partnerships. Partnership is not easy, but as the work of the TRC shows, it is both possible and productive.

Joe Hall teaches history, including Wabanaki history, at Bates College.