Romana Didulo (/roʊˈmɑːnədɪˈduːloʊ/roh-MAH-nuh dih-DOO-loh, /rə-/ruh-'; born November 1974) is a Canadian conspiracy theorist. She is one of the most prominent figures of the QAnon movement in Canada and promotes other conspiracy theories such as the pseudolegal concepts derived from the sovereign citizen movement. Didulo came to prominence as a pretender who proclaimed herself to be the "Queen of Canada", and later, "Queen of the World". She has a group of followers that travel with her, resulting in confrontations with local residents.[1]
Early life
According to Didulo, she was born in November 1974,[2] the younger of two children to her lawyer and engineer father Romualdo Didulo and mother Ana Didulo. Her grandmother was an educator who fought against Japan during World War II. Her father died when she was aged 10, her mother when she was 11, causing her to be raised by her schoolteacher aunt Winnie Freda Didulo Delfin and grandparents.[3]
The Canada1st Party's website states that on July 25, 1990, the 15-year-old Didulo emigrated from the Philippines to Vancouver, Canada,[3][4][5][6] although other sources indicate she first went to the United States with her uncle.[7]
Career
From the early 2000s, Didulo started several business ventures. In 2006, she was the owner-operator of a recruitment company that specialised in helping Canadian firms hire foreign skilled workers in the oil sands, gas and mining sectors. None of Didulo's business endeavours seem to have been successful.[8] She said in one of her livestreams that she was homeless at some point, and slept on the floor in her friend's nail salon.[6][7][9]
Conspiracy theorism
Didulo eventually became immersed in online conspiracy theories. In 2020, she reemerged as the founder and leader of the non-registered "Canada 1st Party" with the slogan "draining the swamp in Ottawa!"[8] She started producing video interventions, with her public persona undergoing a series of rapid changes: leader of a political party, to head of state of a Canadian republic, to Queen of Canada with high-level extraterrestrial connections. She gained followers in 2021 after being endorsed by popular QAnon influencers. She claims her power is backed up by a secret faction within the American military, a common QAnon trope.[6][7][9][10] According to Vice.com reporter Mack Lamoureux, Didulo's rise in popularity among QAnon adherents was made possible by the fact that "Q", the movement's originator, went silent in late 2020: this allowed Didulo to "[step] into the power vacuum".[7]
Though Didulo did not initially explain the basis for her claim to be the Monarch of Canada, she later clarified that she had been "appointed" to that position by an American named David J. Carlson, purportedly the "Commander-In-Chief" and "King" of the United States. Didulo claims that Carlson appointed her after she led in 2017 a mission against the Chinese communist military, who were allegedly occupying Canada in underground tunnels, where they were producing adrenochrome, trafficking humans and planning to start World War III by attacking the United States.[8]
Didulo lived in British Columbia until 2022, when she began travelling to various parts of Canada with a small group of supporters, receiving significant donations to fund her tour. According to those who travelled with her, Didulo exhibits authoritarian and abusive behaviour toward members of her team, with experts such as Chatham University Criminology professor Christine Sarteschi warning this fits cult-like behaviour. Some volunteers who quit, or simply displeased her, were threatened with execution. Several of her former followers organized into a group that monitors her activities, warning communities to which she travels.[6][7][11]
Because of her frequent calls for violent action, her proven ability to incite her followers to take concrete actions on her behalf, and her continuous attempts to establish a competing government to the internationally recognized one in Ottawa, she has been identified as one of the most dangerous QAnon influencers in Canada by researchers following the movement.[7][9]
Didulo gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic by demanding that all vaccines be destroyed, and promoting various conspiracy theories common to the QAnon universe. In response to her exhortations, some of her followers expressed the desire to violently attack health care professionals and public officials.[6][9][12][13] Her rhetoric appeared to become less violent throughout 2022, but in early 2023 she called on her followers to fire on groups of migrants at the Canada-U.S. border.[14]
Didulo has not been universally adopted within the QAnon movement, with some influencers warning she might be a government operative tasked with discrediting the movement. She responds by threatening her detractors with execution.[9] She joined the 2022 convoy protest in Ottawa where she was met with a hostile reaction when she attempted to burn a Canadian flag, prompting her to denounce the demonstrators she intended to join.[7] In 2022, David Carlson, whom Didulo claims appointed her as Monarch of Canada, ended their partnership by denouncing Didulo's behaviour and endorsing a former follower of Didulo who now claims to be the true Canadian "Queen".[8][15] Didulo responded by suggesting that the person posing online as Carlson may be a clone.[8]
Didulo has made a number of unsubstantiated claims, such as the claim that she is an extraterrestrial with access to secret, New Age healing technology that can regrow limbs,[7][16][11] that she has abolished utility bills or other debts[6][17] and has ended (non-existent) adrenochrome extraction in Canada.[9]
To effectuate these claims, Didulo has issued a number of what she calls "decrees" supposedly outlawing various actions by governments and financial institutions. She urges her followers to use pseudo-legal documents using language developed by the sovereign citizen movement to avoid paying debts, or to pressure businesses into dropping public health measures. A large number of businesses, schools and others received "cease and desist" documents. Several creditors have taken legal actions against her followers, in several cases leaving them at risk of losing their homes.[6][9][12][13][18][19][17][20] Christine Sarteschi, an academic studying extremist movements, has been tracking cases trickling through the court system where creditors have foreclosure actions enforced against Didulo followers who stop making their mortgage or utilities payments.[21]
In a ruling issued in August 2024, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta Associate Chief Justice Kenneth Nielsen stated Didulo's followers contribute to an increasing number of cases implicating individuals invoking baseless pseudolegal arguments in an attempt to evade their debts.[22] Nielsen's Memorandum of Decision notes that attempts to invoke Didulo's decrees as legal defense are invariably rejected by the courts, some defendant losing their homes.[23]
Didulo started issuing her own money in March 2023. Referring to sovereign citizen rhetoric, she started handing out the pieces of paper representing unspecified currency to her close followers as a first step to a more general distribution. Several of her fans said they were hoping to use the bills to pay for housing and other necessities, even though Didulo did not claim that would be possible. She nevertheless requested more donations to continue printing her currency, claiming it will make every Canadian rich in the future.[24]
Didulo's caravan is funded by donations from her followers, some making large monthly donations even while facing foreclosure.[21] The number of people who were subscribing to Didulo's Telegram account varies, but is most commonly estimated at 60,000 or 70,000.[6][9][12][13] She regularly solicits donations through social media. In August 2022, these fundraising efforts included a video message that was presented as an endorsement and fundraising pitch from Roger Stone. Stone's lawyer intervened to deny his client had anything to do with Didulo, Stone himself warning his Telegram followers the campaign was "a scam".[25][26]
In 2023, Didulo was living in a motorhome near Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, before heading West with some of her supporters.[27] In September 2023, after having been forced to leave Kamsack by citizens and RCMP officers, Didulo and about fifteen to twenty-five supporters moved into a former school in Richmound, Saskatchewan.[28][29] Didulo initially responded to demonstrations against her presence in Richmound by allegedly threatening local officials through emails and social media posts. The RCMP indicated those allegations are under investigation.[30][31][32] In November, they briefly relocated their vehicles to an uncultivated field 11 km from town after the Fire Chief attempted to investigate possible fire code violations at the school, but soon returned to the former school grounds.[33][34] The owner of the property where the school is situated having failed to show up in court to answer to assault charges, a warrant has been issued for his arrest and he was briefly detained. His trial in Leader Circuit Court has been set for November 2024.[33][35][36]
Theosophy
In her persona as Queen of Canada, Didulo presents a spiritual worldview that borrows elements and symbolism from the theosophical movement of Helena Blavatsky and esoteric groups in the same lineage, such as Guy and Edna Ballard's I AM organization and Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Church Universal and Triumphant. Although Didulo never acknowledges these influences, religious studies researchers Carmen Celestini and Amarnath Amarasingam argue that "the parallels between her movement and those from the past are hard to conceive of as simply coincidental." Some of her followers appear to be aware of the esoteric filiation, as they sometimes use concepts promoted by those groups when discussing Didulo.[37]
As with Didulo, the use of decrees was a central feature of the I AM movement, both as commands from the Ascended Masters and as a request from supplicants for the payments of bills and other blessings. The decrees were also used by the Church Universal and Triumphant, with a change of tone that anticipates some of Didulo's more belligerent utterances.[37] Didulo's followers are urged to read her decrees every night and discuss their content among them.[1]
The purple flame was a central symbol used by Guy and Edna Ballards, which were often called "twin flames", an expression Didulo sometimes uses in her messages. Her references to the etheric domain also appear to be borrowed from those spiritual leaders.[37]
On August 13, 2022, a group of approximately 30 of Didulo's followers attempted to enter the headquarters of the Peterborough, Ontario police in an attempt to seize police officers in what they characterized as a citizen's arrest for "COVID crimes" (enforcing COVID-19 restrictions).[7][16][6] Didulo herself did not participate aside from addressing the demonstration from a vehicle parked nearby. Despite her claims, no military forces appeared to help detain the police officers. The confrontation with officers resulted in six demonstrators being arrested.[39][40][41][42] Didulo later attempted to distance herself from that incident by claiming during one of her livestreams that she had been present in Peterborough as "an observer" and not a participant.[7] An investigation into claims made by a 55-year-old Didulo supporter that he was seriously injured during the arrest was closed in December 2022 after the complainant refused to provide evidence to the Special Investigations Unit.[43]
Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien became embroiled in a minor controversy after stating "fuck off, you fuckwads" on social media in reaction to the group's actions.[9][19][44][45]
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