SDLP Assembly member Ms Brid Rodgers has challenged Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists to take the necessary political risks to ensure the review of the Belfast Agreement succeeds.
Addressing an SDLP women's conference in Derry on Saturday, she said the vast majority of people in the North wanted the agreement to work and the politicians should respect their wishes.
She did not believe that support for the agreement had declined among ordinary unionists. If the agreement had been implemented, there would not be so much "disillusion and disappointment".
She said questions had been raised as to whether Sinn Fin and the Ulster Unionists were committed to the peace process. "I want to believe republicans are serious. I believe many of them are.
"I want to believe Ulster Unionists are serious. I know some of them are. I also suspect that for some, internal party positioning for personal political advantage is taking precedence over the greater good of the community.
"Spokespeople from both parties continually assure us of their commitment to `making it work'. I want to see the proof. Within the review process, I want to see them enable one another to overcome each other's difficulties.
"Senator Mitchell's review will bring us to the moment of truth. We will discover whether the will to compromise, to consider the common good, prevails over the will to have one's prejudices vindicated and the `other' side's intransigence exposed."
Ms Rodgers said the changes to policing recommended by the Patten report offered "real hope of moving away from the bitter legacy of the past into a new, different and better future".
After her address, a series of workshops was held on community and political issues.
The militant anti-abortion group Precious Life distributed leaflets outside the conference on Saturday.