Another government office was evacuated early Thursday afternoon after a suspicious package was received.

The incident marks the third time a suspicious package has been sent to a government building in Whitehorse since June.

This package, a large padded envelope, came into the territorial Department of Health and Social Services offices on Black Street. The others arrived at the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) building in August and at the territorial Department of Economic Development offices on Main Street in June.

Whitehorse RCMP were called to Thursday's incident at 12:20 p.m. when they received preliminary reports of a suspicious package being delivered.

Cpl. Leanne Lind said today the government employees thought the package, mailed through regular post from Nova Scotia, was suspicious because it was out of the ordinary for the type of mail they normally receive.

'They were simply suspicious,' she said.

The building was evacuated and the ventilation system shut down as a precautionary measure. The package was quarantined in the office until officers arrived, police noted.

The RCMP then secured and seized the envelope, which is set to be sent down to the RCMP's Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBNR) contamination team in B.C.

Before sending it down, the RCMP x-rayed the envelope but found nothing suspicious. Police will still send the envelope to the CBNR team for investigation.

In the previous two incidents, the CBNR team flew in from B.C. after dubious packages had been opened. In the first case a brown, crumb-like substance was found in the letter, while in June it was an orange crystalline substance found inside the envelope.

While those substances were found to be benign, they were also sent out for testing.

'They're still under investigation,' Lind said.

The latest package will also be tested in the CBNR.