WaPo: Wealthy couple chartered a plane to the Yukon, took vaccines meant for Indigenous elders
CBC News: Former casino CEO, actress identified as couple who flew to Yukon, got COVID-19 vaccines
More in the links.
Located deep in Canada's Yukon, the remote community of Beaver Creek is home to only about 100 people, most of them members of the White River First Nation.
So when an unfamiliar couple who claimed to work at a local motel showed up at a mobile clinic to receive coronavirus vaccines, it didn't take long for locals to become suspicious. Authorities soon found that the couple were actually wealthy Vancouver residents who had chartered a private plane to the isolated outpost so that they could get shots intended to protect vulnerable Indigenous elders.
"I can't believe I've ever seen or heard of such a despicable, disgusting sense of entitlement and lack of a moral compass," Mike Farnworth, the British Columbia solicitor general, said Monday, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Canadian media outlets have identified the couple as casino executive Rodney Baker, 55, and his wife, Ekaterina Baker, a 32-year-old actress whose recent credits include the 2020 films "Fatman" and "Chick Fight." Each faces fines totaling the equivalent of about $900 for violating quarantine guidelines. Neither could immediately be reached for comment late Monday, and it was not clear if they have attorneys.
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The White River First Nation, which wants to see stiffer penalties for the couple, said in a statement to The Washington Post that the relatively small fines would be "essentially meaningless" for such wealthy individuals.
"It's clear to me that because we are a predominantly Indigenous community, that they assumed we were naive," Chief Angela Demit said.
In recent weeks, Yukon health workers have been traveling to rural areas and trying to vaccinate as many people as possible, and Demit noted that Beaver Creek and the White River First Nation were considered a priority "given our remoteness, elderly and high-risk population, as well as limited access to health care." The nearest health clinic is more than a three hours away, and the closest major hospital is in the city of Whitehorse, close to a five-hour drive.
CBC News: Former casino CEO, actress identified as couple who flew to Yukon, got COVID-19 vaccines
The former president and CEO of a Canadian casino company and his wife are the couple accused of breaking Yukon COVID-19 rules and chartering a plane to the small community of Beaver Creek to receive doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Rodney Baker, a 55-year-old who resigned from the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation on Sunday, and Ekaterina Baker, a 32-year-old aspiring actress, both received tickets at the Whitehorse airport on Jan. 21, according to court records.
Yukon Community Services Minister John Streicker told CBC Monday the couple arrived in Whitehorse on Jan. 19. However, instead of completing a mandatory 14-day self-isolation period, the Bakers on Jan. 21 chartered a flight to Beaver Creek, a community of about 100 people that is located roughly 450 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse near the Alaska border.
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There, according to Streicker, they took advantage of a mobile vaccination clinic that was administering the first doses of the Moderna vaccine to locals, claiming they were new employees at an area motel.
Yukon's rural communities have priority to receive vaccinations because they're more vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19. Many are hours away from a hospital and lack the resources to address an outbreak.
More in the links.
