Whitehorse’s mayor is reluctantly speaking out against making National Aboriginal Day a statutory holiday, as the Yukon Liberal government plans to do.

“I’m very appreciative of the cultural and traditional contributions that our aboriginal and First Nations people have made, not just here in Yukon and right across Canada,” Dan Curtis said in an interview last Thursday afternoon.

“Though it’s admirable and wonderful to recognize anybody ... it can’t be ignored that it does have a significant financial implication within our government.”

Earlier Thursday, the Liberal government announced it would introduce legislation during the upcoming sitting of the legislative assembly to make National Aboriginal Day on June 21 a paid day off.

The Northwest Territories is the only Canadian jurisdiction that currently lists the day that celebrates the culture and contributions of First Nations peoples as a bank holiday.

But Curtis argues another paid vacation day could cost the city between $200,000 and $300,000 each June 21.

The municipal government employs 300 full-time and 200 seasonal staff who work up to 10 months of the year, he said.

About half of the city’s operations and management budget goes toward budgets and benefits, confirmed Valerie Braga, the city’s chief financial officer.

The city did calculate the financial impact of another stat holiday, but “I don’t remember it was quite that high,” she said, referring to Curtis’s estimate.

Braga was unable to retrieve the calculation before press time this afternoon.

“There’s just so few places that we get resources; it’s fees for service and of course property taxes,” said Curtis.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point out the fact that I have concerns of any increase, and this increase will be a significant one.”

Curtis said a one per cent tax increase amounts to about $300,000 for the city, which is his high-end estimate for the cost to the city of another vacation day.

Braga agreed that a new statutory holiday will likely require a service cut or a tax increase.

Not a day goes by, said Curtis, that he’s not asked for decrease fees for parking, or sewage and garbage, or transit, or the Canada Games Centre by a business, organization or citizen.

If the new holiday becomes a legislated day off, said the mayor, elected officials in Whitehorse and other municipalities in the Yukon will have to make a difficult choice: raise fees for service, cut services or increase taxes.

“I don’t want to be the downer – who doesn’t want another stat holiday?” he said.

“I certainly appreciate the sentiment of it, and I get it and I think it’s awesome, but the realistic point is that every business in the Yukon, small and large, and every government, including the territorial and federal, will have a serious financial impact.”

The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce has also expressed reservations about the financial impact, saying a survey done about a year ago suggested the chamber’s membership is divided over the issue.

June 21 has been recognized as National Aboriginal Day in Canada for two decades, and indigenous communities all over the country have celebrated the summer solstice for generations.

The idea to make National Aboriginal Day a paid day off was first brought forward in the Yukon legislature in 2015, by former NDP MLA Kevin Barr.

The legislative assembly agreed at the time to consult the business community, unions and Yukon First Nations before deciding whether to institute the holiday.

Many Yukon First Nation governments already give their employees the day off on June 21.

Last spring, Chief Doris Bill of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation expressed regret over the government’s decision not to recognize the holiday.

“We are disappointed in the government’s decision to not yet make this a statutory holiday in Yukon,” Bill said in a statement to the Star last April.

“We believe sharing our heritage – like the history of the Gold Rush is shared with the rest of the world – would move us forward in the spirit of First Nation reconciliation.”