Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.
Residents from a village that spent two years plagued by the presence of a cult are asking for the provincial government’s assistance.
Romana Didulo — better known as the “Queen of Canada” to her followers — set up residence in a converted school in the Village of Richmound for nearly two years.
The village has a population of approximately 120 people and is located 365 kilometres west of Regina, near the Alberta border.
Didulo and her followers disrupted the lives of many Richmound residents including Shauna Sehn, who came to the legislature on Wednesday.
Sehn said the cult harassed residents and made threats, and situation became so bad that the city’s administrator quit in December 2024.
The replacement who was hired only lasted from April to July, Sehn said.
“It’s embarrassing to have to have it posted on the internet that our village office is closed now due to ongoing harassment.”
In September, the converted school was raided by the RCMP. Didulo and some of her followers have been charged, and that legal process is still before the courts.
Although the cult is now gone from Richmound, Sehn said the village continues to deal with the effects.
That includes an increasingly large bill — as much as $75,000 — for things like legal fees and other expenses. That could grow if it becomes necessary to demolish the former school.
“The financial impact is too severe for a tiny community of ours that has only about 120 residents, and that’s 120 residents, not 120 taxpaying properties,” Sehn said.
WATCH | Romana Didulo arrested by RCMP on livestream:
Cult leader Romana Didulo arrested by RCMP on livestream
Saskatchewan RCMP arrested 16 adults, including cult leader Romana Didulo, in the village of Richmound on Wednesday after a firearms investigation.
Sehn was joined by Brittney Senger, the Saskatchewan NDP’s ethics critic. Both called on the provincial government to lend the village a financial hand.
In a series of text messages, Richmound Mayor Brad Miller confirmed that a formal request for financial support has yet to be made by the village.
Miller said a council meeting is set for this week and the topic will be discussed.
Premier Scott Moe responded to the Richmound residents’ concerns after Question Period on Wednesday.
Moe said he believes his government can try to help more, but it’s up to the owner of the former school building and the municipality to fix the problems the cult left behind.
Premier Scott Moe speaks with media during a news conference on Nov. 12, 2025. (Kirk Fraser/CBC News)
He added that the minister of inter-governmental relations had indicated that the province could advance some money through municipal revenue sharing — unconditional funding provided to municipalities by the province.
“We can work with the community to make this work because I would agree that the community has unnecessarily, and due to no fault of their own, been through more in the last couple of years than any community needs to be,” Moe said.
The province confirmed the village has received “nearly $130,000” through municipal revenue sharing since concerns were first raised about Didulo’s presence in 2023.