‘Queen of Canada’ and 15 others arrested in Richmound, no charges laid

Over 30 police vehicles and two tactical vehicles lined the quiet streets of Richmound early Wednesday morning.

In a news conference, RCMP confirmed over a dozen arrests have been made in the small community.

The arrests come after RCMP conducted a search warrant on the privately owned, decommissioned school known to be inhabited by Romana Didulo, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada,” and her followers.

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RCMP inspector Ashley St. Germaine, senior investigative officer with Saskatchewan RCMP’s Major Crimes Branch, said the warrant was obtained after it received a report of “an individual occupying the building was in possession of a firearm.”

This report was received on Aug. 25.

St. Germaine said the RCMP began an extensive investigation.

“This included careful monitoring of any risk to public safety and to the community of Richmound, a team of skilled and experienced senior officers was established to oversee this large and complex operation,” she said.

Romana Didulo, the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada,’ seen speaking in an online video. The situation in Richmound between Didulo and her followers and people in the town has been tenuous at best. (Bitchute)

Timeline of events

At approximately 4:30 a.m. RCMP began their search warrant of the private property.

Over 30 police vehicles and two tactical vehicles were on scene.

“We carefully examined the components of the property prior to the execution of the search warrant. This maximized the likelihood of a quick, smooth and safe operation,” St. Germaine said.

There were approximately eight RVs parked on the property and a team of officers cleared them out while another team cleared the building from one side to the other.

Officers arrested 17 adults. St. Germaine could not confirm if there were any children on the property.

“One of the individuals that was inside the building identified herself as Romana Didulo, which was, as I understand, live-streamed as it happened,” St. Germaine said.

All the individuals were arrested without incident by 6 a.m. No charges have been laid at this time.

St. Germaine said the next steps of the investigation are still in the early stages.

“Investigators are still in the process of searching the building, collecting evidence and interviewing those arrested,” she said.

St. Germaine understands that there are a lot of people interested in this investigation and she assures them the RCMP is committed to transparency.

As of 11:30 a.m., RCMP located and seized four replica handguns and noticed modifications made to the building.

RCMP notified fire investigators with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, who are now engaged in their own investigation.

No charges laid

While no charges have been laid yet, St. Germaine said charges could come at a later time.

“If we release individuals without charges, that doesn’t mean that they may not be charged down the road,” she said.

“What that means is we potentially don’t have enough evidence to charge them right now, but we can gather enough evidence to charge them down the road, if that’s appropriate in that case.”

Legally, officers have 24 hours to lay a charge, have a person appear before the courts or release them.

There have been over two years’ worth of complaints from people living in the community of Richmound about the “Queen of Canada” and her followers.

St. Germaine said that charges could be laid if RCMP finds evidence that other offences have been committed during that time.

“Whether it was a year ago or two years ago, we still have the ability to lay charges with respect to that now,” she said.

St. Germaine said once charges are laid and a person goes to court, the RCMP could potentially put conditions on the individual to not return to a certain area, like the decommissioned school in Richmound.

Livestreamed video depicts arrest

On the social media app Telegram Messenger, Didulo livestreamed what was happening.

“There’s the corporation RCMP—that calls themselves police—screaming outside saying ‘you’re under arrest, put your hands up, and come towards me and nothing will happen,’ ” said Didulo in a livestream.

Didulo said the officers told her there was a warrant for her arrest. Officers instructed everyone in the building to come out.

As dogs begin to bark, a makeshift wall falls over, and officers holding guns come in.

An officer instructs Didulo to put the phone down and tells her she is under arrest.

“I’m not resisting,” Didulo said, as dogs continued to bark around her. “I’ll give you my hand.”

The live stream ends with the Didulo walking with an officer, with the camera pointed at the ground.

— with files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie