‘Fear lingers in the town’: Richmound residents call for support after cult occupation

Richmound residents are calling on the government for support after the Kingdom of Canada’s occupation.

Months after the self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” and her “Kingdom of Canada” followers were forced out of Richmound, Sask., those in the community continue to deal with the fallout.

Two Richmound residents joined the Saskatchewan NDP at the legislature on Wednesday to call on the province to help them recover.

Romana Didulo, the leader of the fringe conspiracy group, and her followers had been living in an old school in the remote Saskatchewan village since September 2023.

Earlier in September, Saskatchewan RCMP arrested 16 people, including Didulo, in connection to an ongoing investigation in the community.

• Sask. RCMP arrest 16 people, including self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada’

According to the NDP, the village of 120 people already spent thousands on legal fees, infrastructure costs, and additional staffing costs after some town employees resigned from their positions after being threatened and harassed.

During question period on Wednesday, NDP MLA Brittany Senger said the trauma Richmound residents suffered is terrible and questioned why the province failed to aid them.

“Residents were antagonized, and some even received death threats. Richmound tried to remove the cult. They followed the proper channels, but this government and their local MLA abandoned them,” she said.

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Eric Schmalz, Sask. Party MLA and minster of government relations, acknowledged the challenges the citizens of Richmound had to face and said the government remains engaged with RCMP.

“We’ve engaged with community, particularly with municipal advisory, more than 60 times, including a direct link with the executive director of municipal advisory,” he said.

He added that those communications, along with expanded Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) legislation, will allow communities more tools to deal with instances like this.

Shauna Shein, one of the Richmound residents who joined the NDP at the legislature, said the division the cult caused in their town has only gotten worse.

“Many of us feel like we’ll never truly heal from this — not as long as we’re still dealing with the fallout,” she said in a news release from the NDP.

“The cult has harassed people. They’ve made threats. They caused our administrator to quit back in December. A few people have tried to fill in since then, but no one has lasted. No one wants to deal with that kind of abuse.”

Senger said the cost of the cult is being put on the backs of residents, as people and businesses have left the community.

“The village is struggling to fill these jobs,” she said. “Village staff positions remain unfilled, even after the cult is gone, the cleanup remains. Does the minister think that the cost to clean up Richmound should fall on its residents?”

Schmalz said the municipality can conduct cleanup and put the cost back on the property owner so the town would be minimally impacted. He said the previous minister of government relations also provided an option for Richmound to advance municipal revenue sharing.

“We will continue to work with the village of Richmound on the ways and means in which that nuisance property is going to be remediated,” he said.

Senger said the government is nowhere to be found on cleanup, just as they were nowhere to be found when public safety concerns were raised.

“Nobody in Richmound asked for this,” she said. “People were terrorized and traumatized. Some received death threats. Children were scared to play on their playground. Even with the cult leader gone, fear lingers in the town that she may return.”

Tim McLeod, who serves as the minister of corrections, policing and public safety, said the government does not lead criminal investigations, as that is for the RCMP to handle.

“When there are allegations that are made, the RCMP follow those closely and follow up on those to determine what the appropriate course of action is,” he said, noting that 14 more SCAN officers have been added this year.

“We will work with these communities, this community in particular, as they work to clean up this property using the tools that we have provided through additional RCMP officers and through additional SCAN officers and expanded legislation.”