Romana Didulo, the self-declared ‘Queen of Canada’ and a leading Canadian QAnon figure, speaks on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, in February, 2022.Patrick Doyle/Reuters
The self-styled Queen of Canada and 15 of her followers were arrested Wednesday after a firearms complaint prompted a predawn raid on their rural Saskatchewan compound.
Dozens of RCMP officers, some wearing SWAT gear, executed a warrant at 4:30 a.m. on a decommissioned schoolhouse in Richmound, a hamlet of just over a hundred people near Alberta, RCMP Inspector Ashley St. Germaine told a press conference later in the day.
Insp. St. Germaine said officers arrived in more than 30 vehicles, a force required because of concerns about protecting public safety.
Police were acting on a complaint from last week that someone on the site had a firearm. Officers found four replica handguns as they searched the main building and eight RVs parked on the property located on the highway running through the town.
“A team of skilled and experienced senior officers was established to oversee this large and complex operation,” Insp. St. Germaine told reporters.
Romana Didulo livestreamed her arrest to her online followers Wednesday.
Followers of the cult leader, who has promoted various conspiracy theories, set up a “Kingdom of Canada” there two years ago after their cavalcade of campers rolled in from Kamsack, another Saskatchewan town roughly seven hours east by car.
She remained in police custody Wednesday afternoon.
RCMP say 16 people, including self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada’ Romana Didulo, were arrested Sept. 3 in Richmound, Sask., at a former school occupied by followers of the ‘Kingdom of Canada’ group.
The Canadian Press
In the video, posted to her channel on the Telegram network, Ms. Didulo can be seen questioning who the warrant is for and railing against the RCMP officers as an arm of “an international kakistocracy,” a phrase intended to indicate government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.
No charges had been laid as of Wednesday afternoon, Insp. St. Germaine said. RCMP have 24 hours after arresting someone before they must release them if no charges have been secured.
The RCMP spokesperson added that fire safety investigators are now combing the compound to see whether it is safe.
In July, the owner of the school property was arrested on site and charged with assaulting two police officers. Mounties alleged 61-year-old Ricky Manz also resisted arrest and uttered threats.
Earlier this summer, the village office closed its doors to the public outside pre-arranged appointments, citing harassment and intimidation toward staff by Ms. Didulo’s followers.
Richmound Mayor Brad Miller did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. In a post last month to a social-media account he shares with his wife, the mayor and his wife alleged the cult had its sewer access cut off by the town because it wouldn’t pay its bills.
“But recently, we noticed water bubbling up from a nearby manhole. It turns out we were correct and they were stealing our water and continued to use the sewer after they knew it was plugged,” the Aug. 8 post stated.
“Thankfully because of that, we were finally able to get access behind the fence and shut off the water. But now, with their sewage backing up, they’ve started pumping it around their compound – and even near the ball diamonds outside of the compound where our kids used to play.”
Ms. Didulo rose to infamy during the COVID-19 “freedom convoy” protests against preventative public-health policies that descended upon Ottawa in 2022, travelling to the capital with an entourage to declare herself the absolute monarch of Canada.
The day before the raid, she posted to her Telegram channel that her 4,200 subscribers there and elsewhere needed to be wary of “possible false flags/ unlawful/illegal/criminal plans, false stories, being orchestrated by the select treasonous few here in Richmound, Saskatchewan and across The Kingdom of Canada.”
“They are getting desperate. And, desperate individuals and groups have increased their daily threats against my life and Team,” her post Tuesday read.
On the weekend, she asked people to identify CCTV cameras that were posted on telephone poles across the town.
With a report from The Canadian Press