The Joseph Shepard Building (French: Édifice Joseph-Shepard),[1] also known as the Joseph Shepard Federal Building, Government of Canada Building, or simply 4900 Yonge, is an office complex used by the federal government of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Built in 1977 as a medium-sized, planned consolidation project[2] to service residents of the former Metropolitan Toronto districts of North York and Etobicoke, the building houses offices for passport services, Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and Canadian Forces recruiting centre in addition to other federal departments.
[3] The building is named for Joseph Shepard, an early settler in North York whom acquired 400 acres (160 ha) of land nearby and also the namesake of Sheppard Avenue.
The structure, with its multi-layered design, stands out among the surrounding skyscrapers along Yonge Street, which were built during the office boom of the 1990s surrounding the diversification of North York City Centre.
On March 14, 2016, two members of the Canadian Forces recruiting centre were stabbed by someone carrying a knife.