Casino CEO resigns after he and wife charged for flying to Yukon for vaccine

A Canadian couple is facing charges after allegedly flying to Yukon to get COVID-19 vaccines.

Rodney Baker, 55, and Ekaterina Baker, 32, have both been charged under Yukon’s Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA), according to court documents obtained by Daily Hive.

They face one charge each for failing to self-isolate for 14 days and for failing to behave in a manner consistent with declaration.

Each charge comes with a $575 fine, according to the documents.

Under the the CEMA Act, anyone entering the Yukon — even from other parts of Canada — must self-isolate for 14 days.

John Streicker, Yukon’s Minister of Community Services, said the couple arrived in Whitehorse on January 19, and both signed the mandatory isolation declaration.

Two days later, though, they chartered a plane to the small community of Beaver Creek.

The Bakers allegedly told staff at the community’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic that they were working at a local motel. Both received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, Streicker said.

Through a healthcare worker’s hunch and quick work of CEMA officers, the couple was apprehended at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport as they waited to board a flight to Vancouver.

“The whole of Yukon is really frustrated and upset by this case,” said Streicker. “It really goes against this concept we have as Canadians that we’re dealing with the pandemic together.”

The minister said he finds the case especially terrible because small communities like Beaver Creek are the ones the territory is trying so hard to protect from COVID-19.

On January 25, the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation announced that Rod Baker would be resigning at its Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

Chuck Keeling, GCGC’s Executive Vice President of Stakeholder Relations and Responsible Gaming, confirmed to Daily Hive that Baker was “no longer affiliated in any way with the company.”

“It’s such a strange story,” Streiker said. “It would be interesting too, if it wasn’t brutally awful as well.”