REGINA — A couple of Richmound residents are voicing concerns about the mess made by Romana Didulo, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada” and her followers in the village, and the cost of cleaning it up.
At a news conference at the Legislature organized by the opposition New Democrats, Richmound residents Shauna Sehn and Rolande Davis joined NDP critic for Ethics and Democracy Brittney Senger in calling on the province to provide money to Richmound.
“We've been through hell,” said Sehn, who said it felt as if “the people who are supposed to represent us have completely turned their backs on our community.”
Senger demanded the province cover legal fees, cleanup costs and additional staffing costs that had incurred after town employees and council were threatened.
“Some people even resigned from their positions. Their reputation has been severely damaged. People have been traumatized. They're turning to their elected officials for help and for support. I'm asking today for [Cypress Hills MLA] Doug Steele and the Sask Party government to do the right thing and help this community.”
She pointed to the village of Richmound seeking $75,000 in emergency funding “so that they can close this chapter for good.” The NDP later clarified that this amount had not yet been a formal request from the community, but was set to come up at a council meeting later that day.
The real costs, according to Senger and the residents, are likely to be far higher, in excess of $100,000.
In any event, concern was expressed that local residents in the community of about 120 people would be stuck with the crippling costs resulting from the occupation of the village by the self proclaimed “Queen of Canada” Romana Didulo and her followers.
The group, calling itself the “Kingdom of Canada”, had based itself in Richmound over a period of two years before Didulo and others were finally arrested in a police raid in September.
In the aftermath of the arrests, an abandoned school property that had been occupied by the group was left in considerable disrepair and declared unfit for human habitation by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
“The people of Richmound did nothing wrong, yet they were threatened, intimidated and harassed by the so-called Queen of Canada and her followers,” Senger said. “They were victims of a horrific situation and are left feeling violated by the trauma that they had to endure. They've taken a financial hit and a reputational hit. This is the least the province can do to help these folks.”
Sehn and Davis aired their grievances about what had been done to the village.
Sehn called Didulo a “fraudster, a grifting con artist who willingly takes money from mostly vulnerable elderly people who believe Romana is going to make everything in life free for them.”
Sehn accused different levels of government of a “complete lack of response.” She voiced frustration with the office of Cypress Hills MLA Doug Steele, who represents the area, accusing him of only appearing in the community once. She also pointed to the frustrated attempts by local officials including the Fire Chief and bylaw officers to try and access the abandoned school property where the group was located. She said the owner repeatedly denied entry onto the property.
When they went to court, Sehn said the “judge threw out or denied the request for the warrant saying your evidence is too dated and there isn't enough evidence to show that these people are doing anything wrong. Operating a fraudulent operation, taking money from elderly people, claiming to be the ‘Queen’ of not just Canada but the whole world — there's nothing wrong? I'm sorry, I've had enough.”
When asked their thoughts about perhaps getting a court order to force Didulo and her group to pay restitution for the damage they had caused, Sehn and Davis shook their heads and made clear they didn’t think Didulo pay back any money whatsoever.
“I don't think they would pay up, mostly because they're grifters,” Davis said.
“They are grifters, they're professional con artists, and they prey on the weak and the elderly. That money is… They're getting that money fraudulently in my mind. So whether there's a court order or not, will she pay it? Unlikely.”
When pressed in Question Period Wednesday about whether the government would help Richmound, Minister of Government Relations Eric Schmalz pointed to new Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods legislation that had come in that would make it easier to force a property owner to pay up for a nuisance property.
“As part of the expanded scope of the SCAN legislation, the municipality can conduct cleanup and put the cost back on the property owner,” said Schmalz, so that “the town is minimally impacted.”
Schmalz also said his predecessor as Minister had also provided an option for the municipality to “advance municipal revenue sharing their revenue sharing on the annual sum… We will continue to work with the Village of Richmound on the way in which that that nuisance property is going to be remediated.”
When asked by reporters about what the province is doing to respond to the Richmound situation, Premier Scott Moe pointed to the province having “expanded some of the tools or the laws that municipalities can have to identify derelict buildings and have them dealt with. They can have those buildings then demolished and charge that cost directly to the owner.”
“Those tools weren't as available a few years ago as they are now. And we'd certainly take advice if we need to go further with those pieces of legislation. And then we can work with the community as well. Ultimately, what I'm saying is it should be the owner of the property that is paying. If there's some bridge dollars that are needed, I think the Minister had indicated that we can forward some municipal revenue sharing. We can work with the community to make this work. Because I would agree that the community has unnecessarily, and due to no fault of their own, been through more in the last couple of years than any community needs to be.”
As for the concerns raised that the province had not listened to concerns, Moe said there had been a direct line set up to the Minister of Government Relations for the village to contact at any point in time, should they need it.
"And so I don't know that contact would be the issue. It's about trying to sort out the appropriate tools for the village to utilize. And then, in some cases, maybe cash tools, some of those tools, whatever it might be. And we'd look at what we can do to support the village in this not entirely unique but rare case."
As for his own thoughts on all of what happened in Richmound, Moe said “I don't think it's very good. In fact, I think it's quite awful.”
Moe also acknowledged that “what's happened here is definitely an issue and shouldn't happen again. And so I think we have different tools in place now that maybe we can act on sooner rather than later. And if we need more tools, I think we'd certainly look at those. This ties into the broader community and public safety initiative that we have, which is largely focused on drugs and drug-related crimes, vandalism, theft, those sorts of things. But this very much fits into that narrative too.”
