Bajoran - Cardassian Treaty The Bajoran - Cardassian Treaty was an historic peace treaty between Bajor and the Cardassian Union signed in 2371 . Vedek Bareil was the chief Bajoran negotiator for the treaty , while Legate Turrel represented the Cardassian Union . Although Bareil was injured and close to death , he helped Winn Adami to finish the negotiations . The signing of the Treaty sent shock waves throughout the Alpha Quadrant . ( ) Even with the new Treaty , the Bajorans were still suspicious of the Cardassians and upgraded the orbital sensor platform s at Prophet ' s Landing , the closest Bajoran colony to Cardassian space . ( ) The Obsidian Order was strongly opposed to the Treaty and sent an operative , Dejar , to sabotage a combined Federation - Bajoran - Cardassian effort to place a subspace relay station in the Gamma Quadrant . The Vedek Assembly as a whole endorsed the treaty , though at least one individual Vedek , Yarka , opposed it and was defrocked for his opposition . ( ) In a message Enabran Tain sent to the Cardassian government , he mentioned the treaty , alongside the Federation - Cardassian Treaty , as the factors that blinded the Cardassian government to the danger of the Dominion . ( ) In 2372 , Kira Nerys mentioned the treaty to Heler , to explain why she and Dukat cooperated in rescuing prisoners from Dozaria . ( ) Background information . In , Dukat makes no mention of this treaty , which could mean that the Union seceded from it , upon joining the Dominion . However , the Bajoran - Dominion nonaggression pact seems to have served the purpose of maintaining peace between Cardassia and Bajor . In the original version of DS9 Season 3 ' s " Life Support " , the political issues which , later in the development of the episode , became the Bajoran - Cardassian Treaty were peace negotiations between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire , as well as the elimination of the Romulan Neutral Zone . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 106 ) When peace with the Romulans was deemed too inconsequential for and insufficiently compelling , the Cardassians and Bajorans instead became the two negotiating parties . Commented Ronald D . Moore , " " It became more of a " Deep Space Nine " story . Suddenly we had some real stakes . " " Also , whereas the original form of the story had the peace negotiations happening all off - camera , this was evidently changed too . ( " " , pp . 205 & 204 ) The fact that the Bajoran - Cardassian Treaty had been established on DS9 prior to the writing of third season installment allowed the series ' writing staff to include it in that outing . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 92 ) Ron Moore wanted to structure the events of the season three episode around the treaty . In fact , in a developmental memo written by Moore shortly before René Echevarria scripted the installment , Moore suggested the notion , saying , " " Let ' s tie it in to the treaty that was established in ' Life Support ' . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 96 ) However , the treaty isn ' t directly mentioned in " Explorers " .