A little over a year ago, the RCMP raided a purple schoolhouse in Saskatchewan that had been taken over by a woman known as the “QAnon Queen of Canada.”
It was the fallout of a movement years in the making: a group now widely referred to as a cult led by Romana Didulo — a self-described shapeshifting alien who passed her own “laws” in her self-described “Kingdom of Canada.”
That group has largely disbanded, but its past members remain. They are the subjects of a new documentary, Queen of Canada, airing on CBC’s The Passionate Eye on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Because while the documentary does focus on Didulo’s actions, she does not feature as an interview subject. Instead, director Cristian Gomes centres on those past followers, who both grapple with what they went through but who — in some cases — continue to believe in what they were working toward.
CBC News speaks with Gomes and subject Mack Lamoureux, the first journalist to seriously investigate and report on Didulo, about why that is so important.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You speak to a number of people who followed Romana. They have since left her, but — as is shown in the documentary — they haven’t given up many of their distrustful beliefs around the media and government. Was it hard to get them to talk to you?
Cristian Gomes: It was difficult to find the voices, only because I’m not a part of the ecosystem that they thrive in. But once you join them, once you figure out how to find their voice and engage with them online — like in places like Telegram and other really private chats — it isn’t really hard to get them to talk.
It was a big learning lesson for me, as well. People to whose beliefs, at one point, I responded like ‘These views are kind of abhorrent. They’re really damaging, and they leak into all facets of society, actually.’ But at the same time, they’re human too. They’re just people who are really lost and they’re being taken advantage of.
Mack, I’m curious whether your interpretation might fall in line with Cristian’s. Do you see this as a wider case study, one that illustrates that widening division within society?
Mack Lamoureux: I like to consider Romana a harbinger. I consider her a glimpse into a possible future that we’re not necessarily tied to, but if we don’t course-correct we could end up in that way. The disconnect from reality and the damage that her followers had was so extreme — and in many ways scary — that I do think that it’s something that we need to try and take steps to fix.
The future looks bleak for a lot of people. On top of that, you have algorithms which are pushing people down these rabbit holes. You have influencers and media organizations who are all too happy to run with conspiracies if it means that they’re going to strengthen their bottom dollar.
All of this adds into a toxic cocktail that can lead people to joining and following people like Romana and completely ruining their lives. The worse life gets for people, the more people are going to find their ways into the arms of bad actors like Romana.
Cult leader Romana Didulo set up a base in a decommissioned school in Richmound, Sask., in 2023. (CBC News)
The moment that stands out to me is when one of your interview subjects says she once told her adult son if he got the COVID-19 vaccine, she would kill herself. Speaking with you now, it does seem like this could be framed as, ‘She feels so isolated, so ignored, that’s why she felt she needed to make that statement.’ Was that what you were going for?
CG: What is fascinating in the film is that the people who are making these statements have been through the process of a radicalization: being a part of a group, and then being disgruntled within that group and leaving it. And they still hold their views. And I think that really speaks to how deeply, deeply pushed to the fringes these people are.
They really have been totally put outside of the systems of politics in this country, and any other way they could express themselves. They have no outlet.
The dynamic between the character you’re speaking about and her son is really interesting because her son, although he doesn’t agree with all of her views, he found out how to have a relationship with her. And that’s a big part of why she was able to leave the group.
That happens a lot in high-control groups; having someone on the outside who’s just there to listen to you without judgment is what helps a lot of people leave.
Mack, you’ve reported on cults and terrorist groups for years. How does healing work in that situation? Is there a way to fix this from a societal standpoint?
ML: For a lot of people, healing isn’t a linear path, it’s kind of hopping back and forth through these different things. And for a lot of these people, they’re just not going to come back from it. And I think we need to be relatively OK with it. I think it’s more about getting those folks to be a bit more of a functioning member of society than it is about trying to force them to believe our collective reality that we have.
I don’t think there is a ‘fixing it,’ because I think it’s an integral flaw in our design. But I do think that there are ways of making it better, because the technology that we have is accelerating it. But I don’t think there is a world where we all hold hands and everything’s fine. I wish I was a utopian, but…
From your experience speaking with this group, Cristian, how has your interpretation changed? Is there a way to fix this situation, or will those who feel this ignored and separated continue to feel that way?
CG: A big part of this is people feeling like they have no voice. That’s how they get ostracized. We all experience what it was like in COVID. We all experienced the polarization of it.
Something we have to realize is that there’s this large group of Canadians who are very disenfranchised, who have been for a long time. They don’t believe in political systems. Some of them don’t even believe they’re a part of Canada. They think they’re in another sovereign state — that’s how far they feel isolated from us.
And so when we see that happening and if we can acknowledge that’s happening, we have to reach out to those people. We have to bring them back into the fold. We have to have conversations with them.
