(Toronto) — Producers of the Eastern Canada LeatherSIR / Leatherboy contests today announced a restructuring of the Eastern Canada region to create three new regions within the International LeatherSIR / Leatherboy (ILSb) and Community Bootblack (ICBB) contest family.

The Eastern Canada region has been comprised of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, and since 2005 has been produced by Brandon Matheson and Dan Falkenham.

Effective immediately, the Eastern Canada region will be replaced with the Atlantic Canada region (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland), the Quebec region (Quebec), and the Central Canada region (Ontario).

“The change better reflects the geographical reality of the provinces involved. We also wanted to address the reality that the ECLSb contest has been Ontario-centric. Since its inception in 2003, ECLSb has only fielded two contestants from outside Ontario. ILSb is going through a process of revitalization and change and will be increasing the number of regions in the United States as well, so the timing is perfect,” says Matheson.

“We will continue as producers for the new Central Canada LeatherSIR / Leatherboy contests and we will refine our focus to exclusively Ontario,” says Falkenham. “Our sponsors are supportive of the change. Steamworks will be the Presenting Sponsor of the Central Canada LeatherSIR/Leatherboy contests.”

The change provides the opportunity for people in the leather communities in Quebec and Atlantic Canada to step forward and develop their participation at ILSb. However, if a region does not have a regional contest, under recent rule changes implemented by the board of directors of ILSb/ICBB, contestants from such a region may register to compete at ILSb/ICBB directly, without having held a regional title.

Residents of Ontario must first compete at and win the Central Canada LeatherSIR/Leatherboy contest before proceeding to compete ILSb.

“We’re optimistic that regional producers for Quebec will be in place in time to organize a contest and field contestants at ILSb in Dallas in September. With a smaller population, realistically, Atlantic Canada will be more challenging to develop, but we’re hopeful we’ll soon see contestants from the region on the stage ILSb,” says Matheson.

The Central Canada LeatherSIR / Leatherboy contests will take place April 17-20, 2014, the Easter holiday long weekend. The weekend will feature more than a half dozen events over three days. A complete event roster will be released in the weeks ahead.

For more information please contact the producers.

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