New Stadium Yards apartment and art installation honours Black fur trader

The grand reveal of art installation Joseph Lewis in a red canoe outside Lewis Block in Stadium Yards on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (David Mitchell/CTV News Edmonton)

A new rental building in the city is paying tribute to one of the earliest documented Black fur traders in Edmonton from over 200 years ago.

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The 229-unit apartment building Lewis Block in Stadium Yards, a seven-acre urban village, is across the street from Commonwealth Stadium.

It also features a 25-foot public art installation of Joseph Lewis in a red canoe - dubbed The Steersman. The building is named after Lewis, a “highly accomplished” canoe man with the Hudson’s Bay company in the early 1800s.

Lewis is believed to have lived as a free Black man decades before slavery was abolished, according to Rohit Group.

“His story reflects the journey of many who’ve chosen to build a new life in Edmonton: bold, entrepreneurial, and focused on creating something lasting,” a media release from Rohit Group said.

The artist who created the art installation says it’s an honour to create a piece of Edmonton history.

“I knew right away when I read about his story and his history that I had to make a sculpture and my interpretation of an abstract canoe and a silhouette of a steersman on there,” said Slavo Cech, the artist who designed and created the art piece.

“If it makes you smile then I’ve done my job.”

Russell Dauk with Rohit Group, a real estate development company, says the team has designed a great, livable community in Stadium Yards.

“You feel proud when you deliver a product to your customer that they’re happy to live in and I think we’ve done that,” Dauk told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday at the grand opening.

He says the area is an “incredible piece of livable property” with the nearby LRT station, Commonwealth stadium, the River Valley and commercial stores.

Two stages of the project have been developed with people already moved in.