Peaceful Village Living Shattered By Cult Presence in Richmound
Generally speaking, rural Saskatchewan is a quiet and peaceful place to live and work. Since late September this has not been the case for the Village of Richmound, Saskatchewan as an extremist group “Kingdom Of Canada” moved into the former community school, by invitation of property owner Rick Manz, after being forced out of Kamsack Saskatchewan earlier in the month.
Residents came together to protest the presence of the far-right group led by Romana Didulo who has connections to QAnon. The group threatened “publicly broadcast execution” if the village did not follow Didulo’s decrees of cease and desist.
The cult’s presence has prompted the RCMP to set up a temporary detachment in the village to handle the increased number of calls for service in the area. The RCMP is currently looking into a report of assault, reports of threats and “suspicious persons,” Property owner Manz is currently facing assault charges after an altercation Friday.
On Saturday the community rallied again with support from surrounding communities for a planned week-long peaceful protest. Mayors from Fox Valley (Sean Checkley), and Leader (Aaron Wenzel) as well as Doug Steele, the member of the Legislative Assembly for Cypress Hills attended on Saturday as a show of solidarity.
Richmound Mayor Brad Miller said he would like to see more government intervention to push the cult and its followers out. “I think for the provincial government and also the federal government, I think they should be getting in this so we don’t have this problem anymore and we can work together.”
It’s unclear how long the cult may stay in the area. Due to them being located on private property there is no law preventing them from being there. Despite the group issuing threats of public execution RCMP state the group does not pose an” imminent threat” Saskatchewan RCMP said that the safety and security of the community of Richmound is a top priority and will maintain a 24/7 police presence in the community to the foreseeable future.
By Jenny Hagan