On Cape Breton Island, where coal mining and steel making were once an essential part of the region’s culture and economy, protest song and verse are found in abundance. The Protest Song Project is an initiative of The Centre for Cape Breton Studies at Cape Breton University. The program’s goal is to preserve and promote the protest songs and verse that represent the region’s rich industrial heritage. The Centre has been collaborating with local musicians to record many of the songs that were published in the Maritime Labour Herald, a newspaper of the 1920s, that includes both local and international compositions. These songs played an important role in the labour struggles of the 1920s and are an unexplored aspect of Cape Breton’s labour heritage. This is a truly interactive, collaborative and community-minded project. This website is supported by audio tracks that can be purchased by clicking the “Buy” link above.