Romana Didulo

Romana Didulo ( , '; born 1974 or 1975) is a Canadian far-right 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 false pretender who proclaimed herself to be the Queen of Canada, and later, Queen of the World.

Early life

Didulo was born on the youngest 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 was 11, causing her to be raised by her school-teacher aunt Winnie Freda Didulo Delfin and grandparents.

The Canada1st Party's website states that on July 25 1990, aged 15, Didulo emigrated from the Philippines to Vancouver, Canada. although other sources indicate she first went to the United States with her uncle.

Career

From the early 2000s, Didulo started a number of unsuccessful business ventures. 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. She eventually became immersed in online conspiracy theories. In 2006, she was the owner-operator of a recruitment company that specialised in helping Canadian firms hire foreign skilled workers.

Adult life

Didulo's public persona underwent a series of rapid changes since she started producing video interventions in 2020: leader of a non-registered political party called ''Canada1st'', 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."Canada still headed by Justin Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II"
'' Agence France-Presse''. Published June 18, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2022. 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 " tepinto the power vacuum".

Didulo lives in British Columbia; however, in 2022, 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 warning this fits some of the signifiers of a 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 she's travelling to.

Conspiracy theories and the Kingdom of Canada

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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 she has abolished utility bills or other debts and has ended (non-existent) adrenochrome extraction in Canada.

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. 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.

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 isn't claiming that would be possible. She nevertheless requested more donations to continue printing her currency, claiming it will make every Canadian rich in the future.

Didulo's caravan is funded by donations from her followers, some making large monthly donations even while facing foreclosure. The number of people who were subscribing to Didulo's Telegram account varies, but is most commonly estimated at 60,000 or 70,000. 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".

Police issues

In November 2021, Didulo was briefly detained by officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams and subjected to a psychiatric evaluation after she incited her followers to "shoot to kill" health care providers who vaccinate minors against COVID-19. According to Didulo, the RCMP also seized computer equipment.

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). 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. 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. And 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.

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.

See also

* COVID-19 misinformation in Canada
* Freeman on the land
* Self-proclaimed monarchy
* Timeline of incidents involving QAnon

Notes

References

Further reading

''QAnon's “Queen of Canada” is organizing harassment on streets across the country''
CityNews, June 25, 2021.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Didulo, Romana
Living people
Activists from British Columbia
Canadian conspiracy theorists
Canadian anti-vaccination activists
Canadian women activists
COVID-19 conspiracy theorists
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
Filipino emigrants to Canada
Filipino emigrants to the United States
Monarchy in Canada
Protesters involved in the Canada convoy protest
Pretenders
QAnon
Self-proclaimed monarchy
Social media influencers
Sovereign citizen movement individuals
Date of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
1970s births
Impostor pretenders