VANCOUVER, BC (AP) - Public condemnation has grown over a wealthy Vancouver couple who allegedly flew to a remote Indigenous community in Canada’s Yukon Territory to get vaccinated for the Coronavirus.
Marc Miller, Canada’s federal Indigenous services minister, said he was “disgusted” by the purported actions of Rodney Baker and his wife, Ekaterina, who have been issued tickets under Yukon’s Emergency Measures Act and face fines of up to $1,000 Canadian (US$783) plus fees.
Baker resigned on Jan. 24 as Great Canadian Gaming Corp.’s president and chief executive after a media report of his actions.
“That is maybe the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a long while,” Miller said. “I don’t know what went through those people’s minds. There is extreme scarcity of the doses and for some reason people tried to game the system. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. They need personal reflection.”
Yukon’s Community Services Minister John Streicker alleged the couple flew the third week of January in a chartered plane to Beaver Creek, where they posed as visiting hotel workers and received shots of a Coronavirus vaccine at a mobile clinic. The community, population less than 100, is just a few miles from the Alaska border.
Streicker said that he was outraged and that members of White River First Nation in Beaver Creek felt violated.
The community was given priority to receive vaccine because of its remoteness, an elderly population and limited access to health care, White River Chief Angela Demit said.
“There is nothing more unCanadian than going to another jurisdiction to jump the line because you have the means to do so,” British Columbia Premier John Horgan said.
Tickets filed in a Yukon court indicate that Miller, 55, and his wife, 32, were each charged with one count of failing to self-isolate for 14 days and one count of failing to act in a manner consistent with their declarations upon arriving in the Yukon.
Ekaterina Baker did not immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment. An unsuccessful attempt was made to speak to Rodney Baker through a request to Great Canadian Gaming Corp., which accepted his resignation.
An information circular published by Great Canadian Gaming in March said Baker earned about $6.7 million Canadian (US$5.2 million) in compensation from the company in 2019.
The company owns and operates more than 20 casinos in British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Baker became president in 2010 and CEO the following year.
Ekaterina Baker is an actress who had small roles this year in “Chick Fight” and “Fatman,” which starred Mel Gibson as a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus, according to her IMDB Pro page.
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