'Found a bit more information in the Waterloo Press' Folk Songs of Canada Volume II...

The title translates as Song of Cape Breton... composed by Dan Alexander MacDonald of Framboise, Richmond County, during the First World War. He set his poetic verses to a traditional Scottish tune commonly associated with the ballad of Barbara Allen.

I do recall a more detailed history that I stumbled upon on the web, but I'll be darned if I can find it now.