The former head of a Canadian casino company and his wife, the actress, were fined after chartering a private plane to a remote community near the Alaskan border and receiving coronavirus vaccines for vulnerable indigenous residents.
According to authorities, Rodney and Ekaterina Baker traveled on a chartered plane to Beaver Creek, a community of 100 people in the Canadian territory of Yukon, where a mobile team was administering the Modern vaccine to residents. Among those nominated for the vaccine were elderly members of the White River First Nation.
At the mobile clinic, the Bakers claimed to be workers at a local motel, according to a Yukon News report.
But after the couple asked for a ride to the airport and the hotel confirmed they were not employees, the staff at the mobile clinic called the police.
After receiving the complaint, the police searched the couple at their quarantine site in Whitehorse, but found that they had already left. They were discovered at the airport, preparing to fly back to Vancouver.
Both were fined last week for breaking public health rules in Canadian Yukon territory.
“In fact, what they did was put our community and our isolation team at risk,” Yukon Community Services Minister John Streicker told CBC News. “I am very angry with the whole thing.”
White River First Nation was selected to receive vaccines because of its high-risk elderly population, said Chief Angela Demit.
“We are deeply concerned about the actions of individuals who put our elderly and vulnerable people at risk of jumping the line for selfish purposes,” she said.
The Bakers were both charged under the territory’s Civil Emergency Measures Act, which carries a maximum fine of C $ 500 ($ 392) plus a surcharge of C $ 75, six months in prison or both.
Demit, head of White River, considered the punishment too “bland” due to the “potentially lethal effects on our community”.
Until his resignation on Sunday, Rodney Baker was head of the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which runs racetracks and casinos across the country. His total annual compensation in 2019 was C $ 10.6 million, according to Yukon News.
Because of its sparse population density and strict public health measures, the Yukon territory saw far fewer cases per capita than other regions in the country.
But its remote geography has also proved tempting for Canadians seeking to escape the pandemic.
In March, a couple drove from Quebec to Whitehorse – a journey of more than 5,000 km – then flew to Old Crow, with a population of 250 and accessible only by air. The couple was escorted out of the community by the police