The tens of thousands of deaths, towns and villages destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people made homeless in this long conflict have not, until recently, dominated the airwaves and televisions of the Western world. Seven years ago there was a window in this terrible tragedy, a ceasefire brokered by Norway in the wake of unprecedented bombings in the South and a dramatic toughening of world opinion after 9/11. As Chairman of the Forum of Federations, I attended most of the negotiating sessions of the so-called peace talks, and met with the leaders of government, opposition, civil society and the LTTE, known as the Tamil Tigers. I have been back many times since. I think of the possibilities of peace in the years after 2000 and I weep at the lost opportunity, the lost lives. So many dead now that were once alive, debating the possibilities and prospects for peace.

It is impossible to say anything about what is happening without enraging opinion on both sides. But some things must be said. The Sinhala community - the majority population - took power after the departure of the British in 1949 and over a long period made a series of disastrous decisions: imposing their language and religion (Buddhism) as the only official expression of the country, limiting access to universities and the civil service by the Tamil community, and refusing to broaden the country's politics to allow an effective expression of Tamil opinion. Repeated attempts by moderate Tamils to effect change were met by a stone wall of resistance. What had been a parliamentary issue turned violent in the 1970's, with the Tamil Tigers emerging as the most powerful guerrilla force after that time. The Tigers were ruthless at killing their opponents and insisting that they and they alone would represent the Tamil people. Their goal was an independent Tamil state in the north and northeast controlled by the Tamil Tigers.

We are always looking for "good guys and bad guys" in a dispute. The Sri Lankan government, for example, insists that the only way to understand what is happening is that the Tigers are thugs and terrorists and so have to be eliminated. The Tigers and their apologists will point to the evil of a corrupt government that they say wants to eliminate the Tamils entirely.

The Tigers are ruthless and have never made the transition from a guerrilla army to a democratic force. They use suicide bombers against civilians and recruit children into their army. But their support around the world is partly based on the sense of the Tamil people that they have never been able to find justice inside a failed state. The Tigers appear as the only public voice for the many grievances of the Tamil population inside Sri Lanka. That does not justify or excuse suicide bombings and the recruitment of children. But it does mean that the narrative of "they're terrorists and that explains everything" is simply inadequate.

The collapse of the peace talks in 2003, the tsunami, the escalation of killings and assassinations, and the official termination of the ceasefire by the government in 2008 meant that the advocates of a "military solution" on both sides won out. In recent months, we witnessed an escalation of the violence as the Sri Lankan government defeated their opponents once and for all. Hundreds of thousands have been affected by this conflict, with thousands still remaining in internal displacement camps at the hands of their Sri Lankan adversaries. While the fighting seems to have stopped for now, the hard work only begins.

The north of the country has been devastated by this war - there will be no pictures on state controlled television of the dead and wounded, the villages destroyed and the lives shattered. I can remember some years ago a senior government official expressing shock at the physical destruction in and around Jaffna when he paid a visit after the ceasefire. "I had no idea it was that bad". I expressed deep surprise that he didn't know, the hospitals and schools destroyed, the homes wiped out, the sheer scale of the physical destruction. The same holds true today.

These hundreds of thousands are not terrorists. The world cannot stand by and do nothing while they attempt to rebuild their lives. The international community can't allow the Sri Lankan government to say "it's an internal matter" and stay away. Nor can Canada, with its long history of engagement in this issue and it hosting the largest population of Tamils outside of South Asia, stay silent any longer. Political accommodation and reconciliation must emerge if this conflict is to be resolved. The Tamil community of Sri Lanka cannot be ignored, but must be brought into the fold if the Sri Lanka has any chance of securing long term peace and stability.

The many and widely attended demonstrations over the past several weeks throughout the world have proven just how powerful these grievances remain in the Tamil community both within and outside Sri Lanka. A military victory is not enough.

If there is no magnanimity in victory, there is no victory. I shall go back to the Vanni, because the effort must still be made. But it is hard not to cry at what has been lost, how much life has been destroyed. And what must still be done to bring justice to the peace that is being proclaimed so loudly.

MP Bob Rae is Liberal Party of Canada's Foreign Affairs critic