Yukon First Nation ready to move on from vaccine queue-jumping scandal, COVID-19 lead says

A COVID-19 team leader for the Yukon First Nation at the centre of a vaccine queue-jumping scandal says she believes the Vancouver couple involved should have received jail time for their actions.

However, she's also relieved the court process is finally over. 

"Honest to goodness, I have enough to do," Janet VanderMeer, White River First Nation's volunteer COVID-19 working group lead, told reporters outside the Whitehorse courthouse on Wednesday.

"Let us just get on to … more important business."

VanderMeer was speaking to media shortly after Rod and Ekaterina Baker pleaded guilty to two counts each under Yukon's Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) — failing to self-isolate and failing to adhere to an entry declaration.

The couple was charged in January after flying from Vancouver to Whitehorse and ignoring Yukon's mandatory 14-day self-isolation period, taking a charter plane two days after their arrival to Beaver Creek. The community, with a population of about 90 people roughly 450 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse and in the heart of White River First Nation's traditional territory, was hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the time.  

Posing as locals, the Bakers received shots of the Moderna vaccine before flying back to the capital. CEMA officers, after receiving a tip from clinic staff, intercepted the couple at the Whitehorse airport as they were getting ready to board a flight back to Vancouver. 

News about the stunt drew outrage from across Yukon and particularly from White River First Nation, who slammed the Bakers for being disrespectful, privileged millionaires who had put a vulnerable community at risk. 

A judge ordered the Bakers to pay a $500 fine plus a $75 victim surcharge per count — the maximum financial punishment allowed under CEMA — for a total fine of $2,300.  

White River First Nation had called for jail time for the Bakers; besides fines, CEMA allows for offenders to be sentenced to a maximum of six months' imprisonment per charge. 

'I didn't see the remorse'

VanderMeer, on Wednesday, told reporters she had been told about the sentencing in advance, and therefore wasn't surprised about the outcome. She said, however, that she was "disappointed" the Yukon government had worked with the defence to come up with what she saw as a lenient sentence. 

"I feel it should have been a jail sentence, for sure," she said. 

VanderMeer said she was also disappointed to see the Bakers, who attended court via video conference. 

The couple did not speak except for Rod Baker thanking the judge, and did not have any visible reactions during the roughly hour-long proceeding. 

"They were so bland-looking," VanderMeer said. "They just sat there and I didn't see the remorse."

However, VanderMeer said she was "pleasantly surprised" with how Judge Michael Cozens had paused the proceedings early on to get the Bakers to switch from attending by phone to attending by video. Later, he also strongly encouraged them to reach out to White River First Nation to apologize directly, and to also explore how they could make amends.

VanderMeer said she "wasn't betting" on the Bakers getting in touch, but hoped they would, adding it didn't need to be a "public matter."

"I feel today is the end of the Bakers and White River First Nation … I don't want to hear the word 'Bakers' anymore."

Community deserves apology, premier says

In a written statement released Wednesday afternoon, Yukon Premier Sandy Silver acknowledged the Bakers' sentence and described their behaviour as "selfish" for putting the communities at risk.  

"The community of Beaver Creek feels violated by the actions of the Bakers," he said. 

"They have called for an apology and they deserve one."