One of Canada’s most infamous online figures is currently in Halifax. Far-right conspiracy theorist Romana Didulo—otherwise known as the QAnon Queen of Canada, who claims to be the true leader of Canada and waging a fight against the so-called “deep state”—made a stop in Bayers Lake on Sunday, April 23, to hand out “loyalty money” to her followers, according to a video shared on her Telegram account. On Monday, The Coast spotted her RV in the parking lot of Clayton Park’s Future Inns.
Romana Didulo getting ready to hand out loyalty money apparently from a parking lot pic.twitter.com/30cVniSJg9
— Dr. Christine Sarteschi, LCSW (@DrSarteschi) April 23, 2023
The Victoria, BC-based Didulo has amassed a cult-like following among fringe groups—and attracted RCMP interest—in recent years for her outlandish claims and so-called “royal decrees,” many of which read like science-fiction: That governments are run by an “evil cabal” that has “imprisoned humanity for centuries,” that all taxes are abolished and that COVID-19 vaccines contain “nanobots” designed for “global control.” Almost all of her messages are shared via Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that has grown in popularity with far-right groups in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 US Capitol riots.
At times, Didulo’s messages to her 43,000 Telegram followers have turned violent; in a Nov. 24, 2021 Telegram post, she allegedly encouraged those followers to “shoot to kill anyone” who vaccinated children against COVID-19, and in other posts, prodded them to “arrest” pharmacists, hospital staff, school staff, doctors, nurses, journalists and social workers, among other groups, promising “full power to carry out the orders” as “Queen Romana’s Special Forces.”
That was enough to attract the interest of the RCMP, which searched Didulo’s home on Nov. 27, 2021 and brought her into Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital under BC’s Mental Health Act. (In a Dec. 1, 2021 Telegram post, Didulo claims she was “cleared” by a psychiatrist “that same afternoon.” The Coast has not been able to verify Didulo’s account of the events before publication.)
Often, Didulo’s messages to her supporters are accompanied by calls for money. In 2021, VICE reports, she solicited more than $50,000 through the online platform GoFundMe, which she claimed was to help her build homes for families who had been victims of BC’s wildfires. (GoFundMe deleted the campaign, claiming it violated the site’s terms of service.) Last year, a Canadian couple claimed Didulo used their bank accounts to store more than $140,000 raised from her followers to fund her cross-country RV tour.
On other occasions, Didulo’s calls to her supporters have sparked real-world confrontations. Last August, police in Peterborough, Ont. arrested six of her followers after a group of roughly 30 people allegedly tried to enter the Peterborough Police Service station to “arrest” its officers for “crimes against humanity.”
Another view of what went down when QAnon followers attempted to arrest @PtboPolice yesterday #FAFO #Peterborough pic.twitter.com/9QPtz2st4n
— Tanya (@TanyaFusco) August 14, 2022
Didulo’s ties to Nova Scotia
Didulo’s Halifax stop is not the first time she’s been in the province. According to VICE reporter Mack Lamoureux, who has been following the conspiracy theorist for much of the past three years, Didulo spent at least part of the winter living in her RV “on a believer’s property” in Nova Scotia. Recurring Telegram video posts of Didulo’s dating back to Dec. 18, 2022 show the QAnon Queen addressing her followers alongside her so-called “Press Secretary” Darlene Ondi from New Glasgow.
The fringe figure’s appearance in Bayers Lake comes as her online influence shows signs of faltering; last month, Didulo’s Telegram profile was labeled as “impersonating a famous person or organization”—a categorization she took offense to.
“The Fake Label of this Channel by the Deepstaters, Cabal, and Blackhats, simply reinforces and validates further HRM [Her Royal Majesty] Queen Romana's authentic work in the Kingdom of Canada and around the [world],” she wrote on Telegram.
—With files from Matt Stickland
