Aboriginal Day is now a statutory holiday in Yukon

Yukonerswill haveanother day off this summer, despite the concerns of some business owners.

The territorial government followed throughMondayon its promise to make National Aboriginal DayJune 21a statutory holiday in Yukon, starting this year. It's the first piece of legislation passed by the new Liberal government.

In a statement, CommunityServices Minister John Streickercalled it a "progressive step."

"We are enabling all Yukoners to celebrate Indigenous peoples' history, culture, traditions and continuing contributions across Canada and here at home," the statement reads.

The opposition NDP first presented a motion in 2015 to declare the holiday in Yukon. The motion won unanimous support from MLAs at the time, but the Yukon Party government said there would be public consultationfirst.

The Liberals then campaigned on a promise to go ahead and establishthe holiday.

Some opposition

The idea was not universally supported. Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis was opposed, saying it would cost the cityhundreds of thousands of dollars to give its hundreds of employees another paid day off.

Rick Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, also said businesses were split on the idea, with some worried about their bottom line.

He says the Chamber recommended the day be a non-statutory holiday in 2017, similar to Discovery Day, in August. There could then be more "negotiations and discussions" before 2018, he said.

"We didn't really have those negotiations and discussions, and government went on and made it a stat holiday," Karp said."So we have to deal with that."

He says he's already had calls from some business owners who are worried about the cost.

"But having said that, they're all saying, 'Well, I suppose it's for a worthy cause, and we'll go along with it,'" Karp said.