What Does Language Have to Do with Indigenous Health?

Quiet Canines Podcast · Sep 25, 2026 · 3m

When my mother chose not to teach my sister and me Mi’kmaw, she was trying to protect us from the racism she had endured. Years later, I began to understand that this protection also came with a loss. Indigenous languages carry more than words. They connect people to family, land, history, spirituality, and ways of understanding the world.

Across Canada, the United States, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand, research has found links between Indigenous language use and stronger mental wellbeing, cultural identity, resilience, social connection, and access to healthcare. The suppression of…