How abandoned school became HQ for QAnon boss who says she’s ‘Queen of Canada’
AN abandoned school has now become the harrowing lair of a cult leader who says she is the Queen of Canada.
QAnon conspiracist Romana Didulo and her loyal followers have turned the village of Richmound, Saskatchewan, upside down – terrifying local children and their families.
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Didulo, 48, emigrated from the Philippines to Canada as a teen and set up several businesses before forming a fringe political party in 2020.
After endorsements from QAnon leaders, the 48-year-old built up her loyal band of supporters.
Didulo then declared that she had overthrown the legitimate government of Canada, adding that her claim to the “Queen of Canada” title is backed by secret and powerful US military interests.
The self-proclaimed “cult monarch” has spent the last few years travelling around Canada in motor homes and other vehicles.
But just weeks ago Didulo’s group set up camp at the 150-people village’s former school, which has been closed for 11 years.
The abandoned building reportedly has no water or heat, but it does seem to have power and the group is not planning on moving anytime soon.
It is understood the QAnon leader currently has between 15 to 25 people with her at the site, Community TV reported.
The group is also reportedly seeking plumbers and tradespeople to come volunteer for building projects.
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More followers are posting on Telegram about their plans to travel to the area in mid-October, the Canadian local outlet also reported.
Didulo’s supporters have been known for their rather paranoid behaviour towards outsiders, refusing to let anyone in and filming them if they got too close.
They marked their territory with a wire around the school grounds, which also sits unsettlingly close to one of the village’s only playgrounds.
Local children now don’t even dare setting foot near the QAnon “headquarters”.
“The families are afraid to let their kids go to the park, which I totally agree with,” Richmound mayor Brad Miller told VICE News.
“I asked a kid the other day what he thought and he said ‘I’m not going to play there, too scary when you see the lights on at school.’”
Upon her arrival at Richmound, “The Queen of Canada” didn’t exactly receive a royal welcome as villagers are doing everything possible to push her out.
Around 100 neighbours drove around the school in tractors, semi-trucks and other vehicles, trying to drive out the incomers.
They then stood in front of the school with signs politely reading: “Please leave our town and let our children come out and play.”
“It’s the only place in the village where there’s a playground and where kids can safely ride their bikes away from the highway,” Community TV reporter Thomas Fougere said.
“It’s become a high tension situation.
“The town doesn’t want them.”
The protest didn’t seem to convince the group to leave but it did get the locals’ message across.
Didulo and her closest follower did a nine-hour livestream filming the angry villagers and have focused on the protest in all of their nightly broadcasts.
In the videos, they state the locals have fallen for the “lamestream media” and that they should recognize Didulo as their benevolent leader.
“These village folks bought into the lie after lie after lie by the paid for, bought, sold journalists and mainstream media, infiltrators and traitors,” Didulo’s second in command, who goes by Darlene Ondi, said in one of their broadcasts.
“It’s time to grow up, y’all.”
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Earlier this month the cult was chased out of Kamsack, a small town on the other side of the province, by hundreds of local residents.
The so-called QAnon Queen might just have a few supporters at her abandoned school HQ, but she amasses tens of thousands of them on social media.
On her most popular Telegram channel, Didulo has issued “decrees” to absolve her more than 36,000 followers from bills and debts.
That has resulted in followers losing their homes, cars and possessions, Chatham University Professor Christine Sarteschi told the BBC.
As well as the QAnon ideology, Didulo’s cult spreads a variety of different beliefs, including sovereign citizen and anti-vaccination conspiracies.
While QAnon’s spurious narratives revolve around US figures, the theory has taken hold in some parts of Canada and the rest of the world.
Last year, Didulo and her followers took part in the ” Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa.
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The demonstrations saw thousands of people in big-rig trucks and smaller vehicles gridlocking the town’s streets for several weeks to protest Covid 19 public health measures and the federal Liberal government.
She also attempted to arrest police officers in Peterborough, Ontario, accusing them of “crimes against humanity”.
WHAT IS QANON?
QANON is one of the world’s most dangerous conspiracy theories.
It alleges a worldwide network of celebrities and politicians are part of a child sex-trafficking ring which is doing battle with Donald Trump.
The cult-like belief spawned out similar viral conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and historic hoaxes about cults linked to Satanism.
“Q” is the central anonymous figure of the theory, who was claimed to be a high-ranking government official inside the Trump administration.
Posts began to appear on internet forum 4Chan in June, 2017, before starting spread across social media.
Q would drip feed various pieces of information detailing a grand plan in which Trump would defeat the Satanists in an event called “The Storm”.
It was claimed thousands of suspects would be rounded up and arrested before being executed.
Q created an alternative reality as supporters shunned mainstream news outlets, instead feeding entirely on a stream of false information and bogus predictions.
The conspiracy theory began to gain more mainstream attention and QAnon supporters began appearing at Trump rallies.
Numerous events then started unfolding linked to QAnon, such as domestic terrorist Matthew Phillip Wright blocking the Hoover Dam with an armoured truck while armed with an AR-15 in June 2018.
Crime family boss Frank Cali was then allegedly murdered by Anthony Comello, who is claimed to have been a QAnon believer who thought Cali was a member of the “deep state” in March 2019.
And then Jessica Prim was arrested carrying several knives as she livestreamed her attempt to “take out” Joe Biden.
QAnon activity exploded during the coronavirus pandemic, with reports of posts tripling on Facebook and Twitter.
Both social media giants tried to take action, but struggled to police the spread of misinformation.
QAnon was reported to be in disarray following the inauguration of Biden, but the army of conspiracists now appears to be regrouping and refocusing their narrative.
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