{"id":26193,"date":"2023-09-28T07:54:40","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T11:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=26193"},"modified":"2023-09-28T07:54:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T11:54:40","slug":"a-qanon-queen-and-the-canada-town-that-wants-her-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2023\/09\/28\/a-qanon-queen-and-the-canada-town-that-wants-her-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"A QAnon ‘queen’ and the Canada town that wants her gone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

She claims to be the Queen of Canada, and now she’s holding court in an abandoned school.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Romana Didulo, a QAnon-inspired conspiracy theorist, leads a group of supporters who have spent the last few years traveling around Canada in motorhomes and other vehicles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Recently, the group moved into Richmound, a village of around 150 people in south-western Saskatchewan, and settled in at a former school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Ms Didulo and around 15 to 25 of her followers have been at the site for about a week, says Thomas Fougere of\u00a0Community TV<\/a>, a local independent news outlet based in nearby Medicine Hat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Soon after their arrival, the neighbours began pushing them to leave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Around 100 local residents drove around the school on Sunday in tractors, semi-trucks and other vehicles, trying to drive out the incomers, according to Mr Fougere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“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,” he said. “It’s become a high tension situation. The town doesn’t want them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A self-styled ‘Queen of Canada’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Ms Didulo, 48, emigrated from the Philippines to Canada as a teenager. She set up several businesses before forming a fringe political party in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Following endorsements from QAnon leaders, she built up a band of followers, declared that she had overthrown the legitimate government of Canada, and says her claim to the “Queen of Canada” title is backed by secret, powerful US military interests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"White<\/picture><\/span><\/div>
\n
A truck from Sunday’s protest, where Richmound residents attempted to drive out followers of Ms Didulo from an abandoned school. (Image: Community TV \/ comtv.ca)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

On her most popular Telegram channel she has issued “decrees” to absolve her more than 36,000 followers from bills and debts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

That has resulted in followers losing their homes, cars and possessions, says Christine Sarteschi, a professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh and an expert on extremism and the sovereign citizen movement – a broad collection of anti-government groups who dodge taxes and make up their own fake legal systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Ms Didulo and her followers spread a variety of different beliefs, including sovereign citizen, anti-vaccination conspiracies, and ideas related to QAnon – a wide-ranging, completely unfounded theory that says former US President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Part<\/picture><\/span><\/div>
\n
Part of Sunday’s protest against the camp inside the school (Image: Community TV \/ comtv.ca)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n