SASKATCHEWAN — The new CBC documentary Queen of Canada, airing Oct. 28, opens with footage of the 2022 Freedom Convoy, a movement that self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” Romana Didulo didn't organize but latched onto as it gained momentum.
Director Cristian Gomes said the decision to open with the convoy was intended to establish the political backdrop rather than equate the two groups.
“For us, opening with the convoy wasn't about equating the two movements, but about establishing the social and political conditions that Romana was able to capitalize on,” said Gomes in an interview with SaskToday. “By attaching herself to something much larger, she was able to gain a sense of visibility and legitimacy that she might not otherwise have had.”
Gomes said the Ottawa protests provided a key turning point for Didulo, allowing her to turn her mostly online following into a movement with a physical presence.
That physical presence eventually made its way into rural Saskatchewan.
Seeking belonging
The CBC documentary follows Didulo and features former followers who describe how they became involved and what it took for them to leave.
“Romana offered them a community where they felt accepted, listened to, and validated,” said Gomes. “She also claimed to have answers at a time when the world felt incredibly uncertain. I think that's what made her so compelling to people who were already feeling disconnected.”
Gomes said many of the former followers were living through what he described as the “collective trauma of COVID.” He said they had come to believe what he described as misinformation about vaccines and government conspiracies.
Those beliefs often strained or fractured their relationships with family, friends and their communities, leaving them increasingly isolated, he said.
Researching Didulo’s past
Gomes said one of the biggest challenges in making the documentary was finding information about Didulo’s life before she became the leader of the movement.
She had lived a relatively anonymous life, moving between jobs and spending time in subsidized housing with roommates, he said. Few people could offer a clear picture of her earlier years.
A breakthrough came from information found on a USB drive that Gomes said belonged to Didulo. He said it revealed that she had previously been drawn into an online community promoting conspiracy theories and sovereign citizen ideas.
“In many ways, Romana had gone through a process of radicalization remarkably similar to what she later imposes on her followers,” he said.
Sovereign citizen beliefs vary, but followers generally claim they can reject government authority and aren't bound by laws unless they consent to them. In the landmark 2012 Alberta ruling Meads v. Meads, Associate Chief Justice John D. Rooke rejected the idea that people can declare themselves outside the authority of the courts.
Impact on Richmound
The documentary also looks at the impact of Didulo’s movement on Richmound, a village of approximately 118 people in southwestern Saskatchewan, where she and her followers established a base in a former school. The group arrived in mid-September 2023 after being driven out of Kamsack by more than 200 residents from the town and nearby Cote and Keeseekoose First Nations.
Gomes said Ricky Manz offered up his property when Didulo asked her followers for a place to set up a base.
“It’s difficult to say exactly what motivated him,” said Gomes, adding that Manz’s belief in Didulo’s message and the opportunity to give the building a new purpose appeared to have come together.
Richmound relies on the Leader RCMP detachment, which is approximately 71 kilometres away. As tensions escalated, Saskatchewan RCMP established a temporary mobile detachment in the village staffed 24/7 to respond to incoming calls.
Gomes said he was struck by the resourcefulness of then-Mayor Brad Miller, village council and residents. He also said residents felt they had received little support from elected representatives and different levels of government.
“In many ways, they were left to fend for themselves,” he said. “What impressed me most was their determination, particularly in the face of what must have felt like an impossible situation,” he said. “Ultimately, their persistence paid off, and I think there's something really powerful about a community that small standing together and refusing to be pushed out of its own home.”
Gomes said residents endured intimidation, harassment and abuse from some of Didulo’s followers and supporters within the community. During the occupation, RCMP responded to numerous calls for service in the village, including reports of assault, threats and suspicious persons.
Some of Didulo’s followers issued online threats against village officials, emergency responders and others, warning of “publicly broadcast executions” if they failed to comply with demands to “cease and desist.”
Breaking away and real consequences
Gomes said he wanted viewers to understand the people drawn into the movement while also recognizing the harm it caused.
“I think it's possible to have empathy for people who were vulnerable to this movement without endorsing the movement itself,” he said. “We wanted to understand what drew people in and why they came to believe in Romana, while also being clear about the harm those beliefs and actions caused.”
He said the film shows the “very real consequences” of the movement for the people of Richmound.
“By following the story through to the violence, arrests, and eventual breakdown of the group, we give viewers the space to understand the people involved without excusing their actions,” he said.
Gomes said he didn’t think there was a single turning point that led people to leave Didulo’s movement. For some, the growing gap between her promises and their experiences became harder to ignore.
“For people who had invested so much of their identity and sense of belonging in the group, questioning Romana also meant risking the community they had found and the explanations for their trauma they had come to believe,” he said. “And I think that's part of what makes breaking away from these movements so difficult.”
‘Far more ordinary’
Gomes said his reporting on these types of movements has shown him that the people who become involved are “often far more ordinary than we might imagine.”
He said isolation, uncertainty, a loss of trust and a longing for community can intersect at a particular moment in someone’s life, allowing a leader like Didulo to offer a sense of purpose, identity, and connection.
“I think the uncomfortable truth is that the distance between us and the people who become involved in these movements is much smaller than we'd like to believe,” he said, adding he hopes the documentary encourages viewers to reflect on their own position and role in the radicalization of people involved in such movements.
A report from the Anti-Defamation League describes Didulo as a Canadian QAnon figure who has falsely claimed to be the “Queen of Canada."
Queen of Canada airs Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT) on CBC and CBC Gem as part of The Passionate Eye documentary series.
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
