On a cold morning in late January, three planes landed on the isolated runway of a remote community in northern Canada.
The first two transported members of a mobile team from the Yukon Department of Health who were there to administer Covid-19 vaccines to Beaver Creek residents. The tiny settlement of about 100 inhabitants had been prioritized because of its older population, many of whom belong to the White River First Nation.
The third plane, a bush plane, was unexpected.
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On board were casino executive Rod Baker and his wife, actor Ekaterina Baker, who had broken the quarantine and flown to Beaver Creek for the sole purpose of receiving doses of Moderna vaccine.
For the next few hours, the couple traveled to the city, posed as local motel employees, were shot, and then escaped as quickly as they had arrived.
As Canada struggles with vaccine shortages and delays, the Bakers’ deception has been met with contempt and mistrust. The incident – in which a wealthy white couple received treatment for the most vulnerable members of an indigenous community – shed light on strong class and race divisions across the country.
“They saw the most vulnerable people in the community in full screen and continued to get shot,” said Janet Vander Meer of White River First Nation. “That disgusts me.”
When their chartered plane landed in Beaver Creek, Bakers told airport staff they were heading north to Dawson City, but were forced by fog to land. They would wait in Beaver Creek until the weather improved, they said.
“Obviously they misled the officers when they landed in Whitehorse [the territorial capital] and misled people when they got to the vaccination clinic, ”said Dave Sharp, owner of Tintina Air, whose company was tricked into flying Bakers. “They were telling people different things.”
While the pilot waited, the couple took a walk to the city’s main city: a handful of hotels, gas stations and a tourist information center, surrounded by black spruce and rolling boreal forest.
“It really was a ghost town. And so the vaccination day had to be a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for people, “said Vander Meer, who worked with territorial officials to help organize the vaccination event. “The arrival of the clinic and the vaccine was a reason 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 harsh conditions of the region.
It’s unclear how the Bakers knew about the team’s visit to Beaver Creek – nearly 3,000 km (1,900 miles) from their luxury condo in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia.
As head of the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which runs racetracks and casinos across the country, Rod Baker made a profit of C $ 45.9 million ($ 35.7 million) from stock options in the past 13 months, according to Globe and Mail. He resigned after being accused by Yukon officials. Ekaterina has appeared in several films, including Chick Fight and Fatman.
After Bakers allegedly requested a trip to the airport, members of the vaccination team became suspicious. Calls to local motels confirmed that none of the employees were. The team then contacted Yukon law enforcement officials.
In Beaver Creek, where residents learned about the couple’s trick from local reporters, not the government, the immediate response was one of panic: due to its isolation, the community did not see any confirmed cases of the virus, but the age and preconditions of existing health meant that its population was firmly in the most vulnerable demographic at Covid-19.
“We haven’t seen anyone charter flights to Beaver Creek,” said Quanah Giuseppe VanderMeer, another White River First Nation member. “I’ve lived there most of my life and it scared me to hear that I could sneak up like that.”
Janet Vander Meer, who had spent months working on vaccine delivery logistics, went home and cried.
“I felt like I was disappointing my community,” she said. “The mental charge that these people put on me and my family, making me feel like I did something wrong – that’s not acceptable. It’s something I’m still struggling with. ”
Janet Vander Meeer is still furious to believe that before receiving her own vaccinations, the Bakers saw her mother – who is in palliative care and moving with a walker – and an 88-year-old resident. Beaver Creek, waiting in line for the vaccine.
“You’d think one of them would say, ‘OK, honey, let’s go back to our rented plane.’ But no – they were shot, “she said.
News of the Bakers’ trip reached the wider world when local newspapers reported that the couple had been fined for violating the blocking rules. And when the size of the fine – C $ 2,300 ($ 1,800) – was compared to the couple’s fortune, the outrage only increased.
“There is nothing more Canadian than going to another jurisdiction to cross the line, because you have the means to do so,” British Columbia Prime Minister John Horgan told reporters.
Last week, Yukon officials announced that tickets had been suspended and Bakers had been summoned to appear in court, where they will be charged with failing to self-isolate for 14 days and failing to act in accordance with their statements upon arrival in the Yukon. If convicted, he could face up to six months in prison. The Canadian Royal Police is also riding. Bakers have not commented publicly since the charges were filed.
Along with outrage over the Bakers’ behavior, the saga highlighted the deep-rooted racial inequities of Canada’s health care system: many remote Indigenous communities do not have sufficient resources to care for residents and are particularly vulnerable to external infections during the pandemic.
“We know this 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 system last week.
Janet Vander Meer said her efforts remained focused on the safety of the White River – and made sure nothing like it happened.
“I don’t care what they did or thought when they came here. I don’t have time for that, “she said.” Right now, I need to focus on preparing the community to get the second dose of the vaccine safely. Because that’s what matters most. “