Self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada’ moves into abandoned school in rural Saskatchewan
Posted Sep 29, 2023 9:53 am.
Last Updated Sep 29, 2023 9:56 am.
A small village four hours east of Calgary, near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, has found itself with a very strange problem on it’s hands.
A cult has moved into the community of Richmound, a village with a population of 118.
The self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” is still in Richmound two weeks later.
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(Video submitted)#CanadaNews #RomanaDidulo #SaskNews @DrSarteschi pic.twitter.com/seJIBP5hnN
— Logan Stein (@L0ganStein) September 28, 2023
Mayor Brad Miller says it’s been a little over two weeks since Romana Didulo — also known by her fringe supporters as the ‘Queen of Canada’ — moved into the community with a group of her closest followers.
After travelling around the country the last few years, the group is now residing in the abandoned Richmound school, as a man let them stay on his private property.
“A lot of people thought we should have them gone in a day or two. But you know they’re in a private property, they never broke the law and you know how freedom of speech is, right?” Miller said. “We’re just trying to work through a lot of things, talking to a lot of ministers, and just trying to find the right way to get them out.
“I think she overstepped this time,” he added. “I just hope she leaves.”
Didulo and her group have claimed they have ‘alien-like’ superpowers, tried to arrest police officers in Ontario, issued ‘decrees’ online to their over 30,000 followers, telling them they no longer have to pay taxes or bills, and have threatened anyone that goes against them with execution.
Since they arrived, residents have been protesting in hopes of convincing the people to leave.
Residents of the village of Richmound protest in response to Romana Didulo and her followers moving into an abandoned school. (Photo supplied)
Dr. Christine Sarteschi, a professor of criminology who has spent years studying radical fringe movements says, as ridiculous as it sounds, these people need to be taken seriously.
“When you first hear about it, it sounds so silly and bizarre and it is in a lot of ways. But I think that they’re not harmless, there’s quite a few people who believe in her ideas,” she said. “And, they’re so bizarre that we don’t actually know what they’re thinking.
“I think that they’re not harmless, that there more should be done to stop what they’re doing,” Sarteschi explained. “I don’t think we can ignore the reality of the harm she is doing.”
CityNews spoke to a woman from Calgary who moved to Richmound years ago.
She says the village needs help.
“This is, in my view, a very vulnerable community,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of resources — RCMP is 45 minutes away in either direction — that alone creates a lot of fear.”
She adds the community needs help to get the group out of the village.
Richmound residents protesting against #RomanaDidulo and her cult, taken a few weeks ago.
The community is in the process of figuring out what else it can do.
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— Logan Stein (@L0ganStein) September 29, 2023
“We absolutely need the support of the province, we need the support of the RCMP, we need the support of the politicians,” the resident said. “We need resources, we need help, we need answers.”
The mayor says actions need to be taken to prevent situations like this from happening again.
“We’ve got to have something in place next time so this never happens,” Miller said. “I think every council in Saskatchewan and Alberta, or wherever, is going to be on there toes.”
Romana Didulo, the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada’ and her followers have moved into an abandoned school in the village of Richmound. (Photo supplied)
Sarteschi said there’s no way to know what the group could do next.
“We don’t know what they’re capable of and what they’re planning,” she said. “They’re evolving — they did not start out this way.”
The RCMP has said there is little that can be done until a law is broken, and since the cult has occupied private property, the community has been left with the task of figuring it out itself.
But, the Richmound resident says not to underestimate what community members will do to keep their home safe.
“I think the biggest thing is to not underestimate what the residents are willing to do for themselves and their children in keeping a safe, rural farming town that way for our kids going forward,” she said.
