On a cold morning in late January, three planes landed on the lonely runway of a remote community in northern Canada.
The first two had members of a mobile team from the health department in the Yukon area who were there to give Covid-19 vaccines to Beaver Creek residents. The small settlement of about 100 inhabitants was preceded because of the older population, many of whom belonged to the White River First Nation.
The third plane, a forest plane, was unexpected.
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On board were casino executive Rod Baker and his wife, actor Ekaterina Baker, who broke quarantine and flew to Beaver Creek with the sole purpose of receiving doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Over the next few hours, the couple entered the city, posing as local motel staff, receiving their shots, and then escaping as soon as they arrived.
As Canada struggles with vaccine shortages and delays, the Bakers’ deception is met with contempt and disbelief. The incident – in which an affluent white couple received treatment intended for the most vulnerable members of an indigenous community – shed light on the strong divisions of class and race that cut across the country.
“They saw the most vulnerable people in the community on full display and went on to get the chance,” said Janet Vander Meer of White River First Nation. “This is what disgusts me.”
When their chartered plane hit Beaver Creek, the Bakers told airport staff that they were heading north to Dawson City, but that they had to land through fog. They would wait in Beaver Creek until the weather improved, they said.
‘It is clear that they misled the officials when they landed in Whitehorse [the territorial capital] and deceived people when they arrived at the vaccination clinic, ”said Dave Sharp, owner of Tintina Air, whose business was deceived into flying the Bakers. “They told different people different things.”
While the pilot waits, the couple rides in the direction of the city’s main attraction: a handful of hotels, gas stations and a tourist information center, surrounded by black spruce and undulating borage.
“It really was a ghost town. And so the vaccination day was meant to be a small light at the end of the tunnel for people, ”said Vander Meer, who worked with territorial officials to help set up the vaccination event. “The clinic and the vaccination were a reason for us to celebrate.”
Since early January, the Yukon government has used two mobile vaccination teams to target vulnerable and hard-to-reach areas such as Beaver Creek. The teams – Balto and Togo – are named after two famous sled dogs, in a nod to the difficult conditions in the region.
It’s unclear how the Bakers knew about the team’s visit to Beaver Creek – nearly 3,000 miles from their luxury apartment in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia.
As head of Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which runs racetracks and casinos across the country, Rod Baker has earned C $ 45.9 million ($ 35.7 million) in stock options, according to the Globe and Mail. 13 months. He resigned from his role after being charged by Yukon officials. Ekaterina has appeared in a number of films, including Chick Fight and Fatman.
After Bakers allegedly asked for a ride to the airport, members of the vaccine team became suspicious. Calls to local motels confirmed that employees were not either. The team then contacted Yukon’s law enforcement.
In Beaver Creek, where residents of local reporters and not the couple’s government found out, the immediate response was panic: thanks to its isolation, the community did not see any confirmed cases of the virus, but age and pre-existing health conditions means that its population was strongly established in the most demographically vulnerable for Covid-19.
“I’ve never seen anyone rent flights to Beaver Creek,” said Quanah Giuseppe VanderMeer, another White River First Nation member. “I live there most of my life and it scares me to hear that they can sneak in like that.”
Janet Vander Meer, who spent months on the logistics of vaccine delivery, went home crying.
“I felt like I had let my community down,” she said. ‘The mental toll these people place on me and my family, which makes me feel like I did something wrong – it’s not acceptable. This is something I’m still struggling with. ‘
Janet Vander Meeer is still furious to think that before receiving their own vaccinations, the Bakers would both see her mother – who is in palliative care and moving with a walker – as well as an 88-year-old resident of the Beaver Creek-tou. for the vaccine.
‘You would think at that point, one of them would say’ OK, honey, let’s go back to our chartered plane. “But no – they got their chance,” she said.
News of the Bakers’ journey reached the wider world when local newspapers reported that the couple had been fined for violating the closing rules. And when the fine – C $ 2 300 ($ 1 800) – is compared to the wealth of the couple, the outrage only increased.
“There is nothing more non-Canadian than going to another jurisdiction because you have the means to do so,” British Columbia Premier John Horgan told reporters.
Last week, Yukon officials announced that the tickets had remained and that the Bakers had been summoned to appear in court, where they will face charges that they did not isolate themselves for 14 days and did not act in accordance with their statements upon arrival in the country. Yukon. If convicted, they could face up to six months in prison. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also investigating. The Bakers have not commented publicly since the charges were filed.
In addition to the outrage over the Bakers’ behavior, the saga highlighted the deep-rooted racial inequalities in Canada’s health care system: many remote indigenous communities do not have enough resources to care for residents and are particularly vulnerable to outside contamination during the pandemic.
“We know it is a system that has failed indigenous peoples … and treated indigenous peoples as second-class citizens,” indigenous services minister Marc Miller told a conference on racism in the health care system last week. said.
Janet Vander Meer said her efforts remain focused on the safety of White River – and to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.
“I do not care what they did or thought when they came up here. I do not have time for that, “she said. “Right now, I have to focus on getting the community ready to get the second dose of the vaccine safe. Because that’s what matters most. ”