Joseph, Mary and Jesus Christ are missing.

Peter Williams, the rector of Christ Church Cathedral and the Anglican dean of the Yukon, said in an interview this morning someone pilfered the religious statues from the church's nativity scene sometime over the New Year's weekend.

'Somebody is holding Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus for ransom,' he said.

'Sometime over the past weekend, the statues were taken, there were footprints ....

'I don't know what people would do with them unless you were going to do some sort of witchcraft or deface them or something,' he said.

Williams said he isn't sure what the statues cost, but confirmed they would likely be expensive to replace.

'It would be fairly considerable,' he said.

Whitehorse RCMP spokesman Frank Campbell said this morning that stealing baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph is a criminal offence under section 334 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

'That's private property of the church ... it's theft under $5,000,' he said.

'A lot of people may (think) the statues are of little value, but someone went to a lot of time and effort to put those things together,' he said.

Campbell said anyone with any information on the theft should call the church at 668-5530, Whitehorse RCMP at 667-5555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477.