Canadian couple accused of flying to a rural First Nations settlement and posing as residents to get the vaccine.
Grand Canadian Gaming CEO Rod Baker resigned, the company said Monday, after he and his wife were accused of traveling to a settlement in northern Canada that is Indigenous and misleading authority to receive the vaccine. against coronavirus.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which first reported the incident, said Baker, 55, and his wife Ekaterina Baker, 32, had traveled from Vancouver to Yukon territory and were passing through. by local workers in the remote Beaver Creek community to receive a dose of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine.
The Canadian census says that in 2016, 85 of the 93 people living in the Beaver Creek settlement were Indigenous, who were part of the White River First Nation.
“We are deeply concerned about the actions of people who put our elderly and vulnerable people at risk for skipping the line for selfish purposes,” White River First Nation leader Angela Demit wrote on Facebook.
Beaver Creek is located in northwestern Canada, where rural communities are given priority for vaccines, as government data show they are facing higher infection rates, Yukon News reports.
Documents filed in the Yukon court record show that the couple was charged Thursday for not behaving in a manner “consistent with (their) statement.”
He was also charged with failing to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the Yukon and was fined C $ 1,150 ($ 905.12), according to the notes.
Baker did not immediately return Reuters’ request for comment.
Great Canadian Gaming said in a statement that it received the CEO’s resignation on Sunday, but did not offer any details, saying it did not comment on staff matters.
Yukon Minister of Community Services John Streicker said in a statement that he was “outraged” and found it “disturbing that people choose to put their Canadian colleagues at risk in this way.”
A Yukon government spokesman said it would implement new requirements to prove residency in the territory.