'QAnon queen' supporters allegedly threaten Sask. village leaders with 'executions'

Saskatchewan RCMP say they’re investigating after the Village of Richmound allegedly received letters from supporters of the self-appointed "Queen of Canada" threatening public execution.

Romana Didulo, the leader of a fringe conspiracy group who was forced out of Kamsack, Sask. on Sept. 13, has been camped out on a resident’s property in the village of Richmound since last week — at the community’s shuttered school.

On Sept. 24, area residents took to their trucks and tractors protesting Didulo’s presence, which seems to have triggered the "cease and desist" letters.

CTV News called the town hall and was told the village did receive "cease and desist" letters, but did not confirm the details.

The note originally appeared on the social media app Telegram on Sunday on channels associated with Didulo. It accuses the leadership of Richmound of bullying and stalking.

Failure to "cease and desist" from their "immoral activities" could result in them being found guilty of treason, the note says.

"You will face publicly broadcast executions upon yourselves, and undeserved devastation upon your children, grandchildren and families … Your future is in your hands."

Leader RCMP confirmed its officers were investigating reports of messages posted online about the village, but would not provide further details while the investigation is underway.

Queen of Canada update for those following. pic.twitter.com/lKZwfoOXqh

— CRToney🧢 (@CRToney2) October 3, 2023

Christine Sarteschi, a criminologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says people should take this group’s threats seriously.

Sarteschi specializes in studying extremist groups, mass violence and "sovereign citizen" ideology.

She’s been following Didulo and her group for nearly two years, monitoring their actions and communications over Telegram.

To her knowledge, Didulo hasn’t personally hurt anyone, but her edicts are often violent, she says.

"There’s videos of her saying things specifically about healthcare workers that, you know, they’re going to get two bullets in the head if they continue what they’re doing. So, she has a lot of violent rhetoric, and she has a lot of followers who very much believe that her edicts are true, and that they are more or less orders from her.”

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Didulo espouses ideas of what she terms "natural law," and tells her followers she has cancelled their debts and taxes, and made utilities free, says Sarteschi. People have lost their houses and faced fraud charges as a result of following her edicts.

Some of Didulo’s ideas veer into even more bizarre territory.

"I mean, she believes that there are, you know, spaceships above the sky sort of directing her behaviour, or that people can be beamed up to a 'med bed' and cured of all their ailments," Sarteschi says.

Given the nature of her beliefs and tendency towards violent rhetoric, people in the community have a right to be concerned, she said.

"We shouldn’t ignore what they’re doing, especially when they’re outright putting out threats."

Having studied many cases of mass violence, Sarteschi says people don’t just decide to act out of nowhere, "there’s usually a slow build-up to it and oftentimes posting things of a violent nature out in the public."

"You see all these instances of red flags or where somebody posted something that they were more or less telling people they were going to do."

So far, Didulo has not faced criminal charges, although according to Sarteschi she was detained by police in 2021 and put on a temporary psychiatric hold.

If people in Richmound want Didulo to move on, they’ll need to come up with a strategy, says Sarteschi.

"I think it’s an unusual phenomenon; that it’s understandable that no one’s quite sure what to do about it."

Asked about the situation in Richmound on Wednesday, Premier Scott Moe said the justice ministry would be discussing the issue on Friday.

A spokesperson for the provincial government's executive council later told CTV News that Cypress MLA Doug Steele has met with community leadership on the issue "and is working to ensure they have appropriate contacts to answer any technical questions they may have."

Richmound is approximately 450 kilometres west of Regina.