S36 E3: The Other Side | The Cult Queen of Canada

It was allowed to spread, while governments dragged their feet and tech companies shrugged.

“"I'm staring at myself in this video that I know I haven't made."”

"This is what it looks like to feel violated." This season, on understood. If you follow the trail, who does it lead to? These images they would like hunting me, and the biggest platform was Mr. Deepfake's understood. Deepfake porn empire.

Available now on CBC Listen, or wherever you get your podcast. This is a CBC podcast. It's November 2023.

Bonnie Linger-Felter, a regional bylaw officer, drives into Richmond.

“She's here to investigate the school, and she's a bit on edge, with good reason.”

She arrives at the school building. This is the school where Romana did a lot, and her cults have been hold up for two months now. That whole time, Richmond's mayor, Brad Miller, has been brainstorming ways to get them out. But then, Mayor Brad was sent footage of the cult running a propane tank with a heater on top inside the school. Romana had accidentally shown it to the world on her birthday live stream.

Running propane inside is dangerous. A fire hazard, a risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. But more importantly, for Brad, it's a bylaw infraction. So, Brad called Bonnie, and now she's here.

The second she approaches, cult members come out and start filming her.

And then right away, they have their cell phone. And then, by the time we even got out and close to the fence, there was four more. But on the other side of the road, she notices something strange. A group of locals are standing across the street from the school, staring daggers at her. She walks up to the fence. Now, six of Romana's followers stand on the other side of it,

all filming her in silence. Then, one speaks up. She turns to leave. But before she can even get back to her car, she hears something. That group of locals are shouting at her. We were three half times parked across the road from where we were, and they were,

they were hollering. I even heard f-ponds. The community members who were when they were, they weren't in the compound where we were swearing at us for being there. Rich mound locals swearing at Bonnie for investigating the cult. They're screaming, "Get out of here, fuck off."

“Didn't Rich mound want the cult gone? Isn't that why she was called here?”

Bonnie gets ready to drive home. But before she leaves, she takes one last look back at the school and sees something odd. "I looked up the street, and that's when they had moved. So all their motorhomes were out of a sensing, and it's like, "Oh my gosh, they're on the mood." That's right, the cult's RVs had pulled out of the school grounds and relieving.

Like leaving leaving. The very outcome mayer Brad and former schoolteacher Shana have been desperately working towards for months. As soon as the cult leaves the school grounds, Rich mound group chats go nuts. Word then spreads to the media. Headlines race around the country, then the world announcing. The queen is gone. Canada's romanticiedlo and her followers leave

Saskatchewan village. It was an unexpected victory, but it wouldn't last for long. Because unbeknownst to people like Shana and Mayor Brad, another group of Rich moundians were keeping the cult hidden. Only a few minutes away. I'm Rachel Brown, and this is the cult queen of Canada from CBC's uncover. Episode 3, The Other Side.

Before the anti-cult side can even get out the noise makers to celebrate their win, they learn where the cult has really gone, and it's not far at all.

local, Tom Tukshur. I'm 65 years old. It's up in here. Pretty much every living day in my life.

“Tom Tukshur's a short, stalky man with a thick white mustache. He was the mayor of Rich”

mound for two years before Brad. And what made you want to become mayor? There was a big void in town, nobody wants to really step up to the plate, and there was a personal ambition maybe to keep the community intact. But then, there was some sort of riff between Tom and the others on council, so he quit halfway through his term. That's when Brad took over, and Tom does not approve of how Brad's been running the town, especially when it comes to the cult. That's because he sees them as

essentially harmless. There's a lot of propaganda out there, a lot of dangers that group might be. I haven't followed it. I have a research to from what I've seen as a people out of here. That doesn't exist here. I know there's a lot of people who hate the thought that she's here, but we have to skip the fact that they're human beings, and they've taken up residency here.

“So when the cult left the school after Bonnie the bylaw officer stopped by, Tom figured he was”

helping out some neighbors in a tight spot. He had no idea the ripple effects that decision would have. I gave him a place to stay for a couple of days. I was in the hospital with my wife, she was dying for cancer. I got a phone call from, from Rick. I asked him if there was a property they could park their RVs for a couple of days until they figured things out. He's talking about Ricky Manz. He's the local karate teacher slash Q&O believers slash failed cannabis grow up entrepreneur

who owns the school where the cult is staying. Ricky and Tom are friendly, so when Ricky called him, Tom agreed to let the cult crash on his farmland. It's an open field in a remote area.

Romana and her followers parked their RVs and campers and set up for their first night on the road

in months. But if the cult thought they'd found sanctuary for the night, they were wrong. Did you get a call of following morning from Rick and he said, "Wit trouble here.

“You need to come over here." "What did you do?" I left my place bedside and met a snack.”

The cancer clinic. I raised out here to calm the waters. Here, right back on his field and the cult members told him what had gone down. In the dead of night, two trucks had pulled onto the property. Four men had clambered out, local farmers who were very much against the cult. They were on a mission. They'd approached the cult's RVs and started yelling and shouting, trying to scare them out of town.

"There's florgons fired at them. People are circling them in my field all night long and harassing them." They shot off flares into dry grass in the middle of a drought. I mean, they were there scared because they were outprotected. They were vulnerable because they're an open field. Tom is enraged. He's left his wife's deathbed to deal with this. That's when Tom loses it.

"I am Tom." "Yes?" "This man had been very, very clever Tom." This moment was filmed by the cult's press secretary who published the recording on social media. "Get the fuck out of here." "Get your stuff." "I'm stressed out of my face." "You know what?" "Because our history, our family, home, and we born bad, because then to fuck off right now, Nina will talk man's man like neighbor too." "Let's go back here." "I'll shop now."

"My wife was dying, she was a week away from dying, and my patience was pretty sent at that point. I was compelled to make a tough decision that morning. I made it like that. You guys are ready here. Go, go, go, go. Everyone, I mean, Queen had to leave it. Get out of my face. I got into space. I need space." The cult packed up and left Tom's property in a hurry, so did the farmers. Tom was left reeling. He couldn't believe his fellow-rich-mowned-yans would treat him and his guests

like this, especially while he was losing his wife. He had seen a side of them that he didn't recognize. "Oh, and it was it. This was a very tight-net community for the community,

and we've showed a side of this community that I never thought ever existed." "Which is what?"

"The anchor in the violence center. It's been portrayed to those people, and to each other and down the splinter groups, the violence we've seen in-house, just their own community." "And the town had seen another side of Tom, too." "The people wanted to, Romano, their followers, other town. I gave them the opportunity to move other town. And at that point, I became a target in the community."

After this one night, Tom's reputation in town forever changed. He was now labeled by the

owned by Melinda Fisher. We've heard Melinda's name before. At the protest, she was in the middle of

“the street trying to stop it. But things have evolved since then. She's become a cult supporter”

- she might even be a cult member. "And so I wanted to, without any further due to, of course, introduce our special guest, her excellency, Melinda Fisher." Here she is appearing on QRTRV, the cult's livestream. Melinda is in her 60s. Her hair is in a tidy bob and she's wearing her signature cat eyeglasses. She is sitting beside Darling, Andy, the cult's press secretary. "And thank you for allowing me to be on shelter." On the broadcast, I learned that Melinda even has a special

title in the cult. Minister of International and Internal Protocol. "Hi, I am forever excellency. I am a Minister of International and Internal Protocol." Apparently, she helps the kingdom create etiquette in case they ever host international diplomats. And what to acknowledge you for your courage

“and bravery, but also you are family. "You're family, but it's fine. You don't want me to."”

Yeah, I'm going to try to go up to Melinda's. I'm going to try to knock on the gate.

I've been trying to talk to Melinda since I first arrived in rich mound. "Okay, calling."

I want to know why is a local joining Romana's group? Is she a believer or if not, what does she hope to gain? "Hello." "Oh, hi there, is this Melinda?" "Hi, Melinda. My name is Rachel Brown. I'm wondering if you might be available now or another time to speak with me for my story that I'm working on." "I'm sorry." "I don't want to get my number." "I got it from open source information." "Why is that?" "She hung up." "Okay." "She won't talk to me. I've got to admit I'm a bit bummed out.

Because everyone else I talked to in town brings her up constantly." "When Melinda moves here,

“it all went for shit." "Oh, yeah. And she's not a person that you can deal with or talk to.”

It's just like a little kid." The town foreman, who supports Brad and Shana, tells me he'd

barely ever spoken to Melinda before she accosted him one day while he was working. "So I went out spring and I was springing the weeds and she was out in her yard and all of a sudden she yells to me. I'm glad your son died." "You know, I hope he had a horrible, horrible death. And you know what, he probably deserved it." The Foreman's son had in fact passed away. A personal matter he'd certainly not shared with Melinda. "What did you say?" "I didn't say anything.

I just stood there. My jaw was on the ground and then I just turned around and walked back to my vehicle and she called by, "Ah, fuck you!" And I said, "You wish." "So, yeah, that's all I've ever said to her." I learned she started this Facebook group, rich mound and area scoop, which seems to exist purely for drama. Picture the boomer version of the burn-boken mean girls.

People post bad memes and snarky threads about each other as anonymous commenters. And it gets vicious. There's this one moment that goes especially viral on there, or as viral as you can get in a town of 120 people. Brad's deputy mayor, a former pro hockey player whose name is Jig, was getting groceries in the nearest city medicine hat. Jig sees the cult's vehicle in the supermarket parking lot and he goes inside.

He spots Romana and something in his snaps. He confronts her about the execution letters. Jig's wife starts filming. The cult starts filming them right back. Romana tries to get the store's security involved and it turns into this whole thing. At the end of the video, there might even be a physical altercation between Jig's wife and Romana, but it's tough to tell.

Later, someone anonymously posts a video of it from the cult's perspective to that Facebook group, and the comments are vicious. I hear that locals think Melinda is behind many of the anonymous comments. Since Melinda isn't talking to me, I watch her live streams with the cult to hear what she's

the warmth and love that you show people as they enter the building. You get the feeling of

“everybody's on a equal ground when I go back out into Richmond. My energy goes right up. It's like,”

okay now I'm on guard again." In Richmond, everyone describes Melinda as volatile and combative, but the cult has embraced her with open arms. "You are also royalty in the kingdom of Canada. You're royalty. So you are treated as such." I also hear that Melinda lives alone, and almost all her friends are married. I can imagine that it might be very lonely in a town this

small. So when a group of people, many around her age, arrive in town, it makes sense that she might have been curious. My trip to Richmond ends. I call Melinda a few more times and she doesn't pick up. I messaged her, but get no reply. Then, a few weeks later, my phone rings. Melinda is calling me, and I am not prepared at all. I frantically hit record and get my husband to get the dog out of the room. "Loo, loo, loo, I need you to come get him." "Loo?"

"And I finally get to hear Melinda's side of the story."

You know that feeling when you reach the end of a really good true crime series, you want to know more, more about the people involved, where the case is now, and what it's like behind the scenes. I get that. I'm Kathleen Goldhardt and on my podcast crime story, I speak with the leading storytellers of true crime to dig deeper into the cases we all just can't stop thinking about. Find crime story wherever you get your podcasts.

Melinda is in a very different mood than last time when she hung up on me. "I don't know if you remember I gave you a call. Yes, I've been getting so many calls. I'm getting very rude and we just not right nature, but are you trying to make sure you're not trying to talk to you?"

“"Yes, yes, we spoke." "That's why I called you back."”

"It seems like the former mayor Tom Tukcher put in a good word for me. I now finally have the

chance to figure out why Melinda has sided with the cult, to the extent that she's willing to host them on her property. She told me that her property, this piece of farmland, has been in her family for decades, but she only moved to the area a few years before. "My sister and I only three generation found out here." "Yes." "And in 2021, after my mom tossed away in 2019, I thought, well, you know what, schoolback and move back to my moods and, you know,

why it's simple like, why was I in for a rude awakening?" Melinda and her twin sister Audrey were in their 60s when they moved to Richmond. They've both dealt with some chronic health issues and were ready to slow down. They moved in and met their neighbors, Ricky Manz, and a few other newcomers to town and they started to make a few friends. But it didn't take long from Melinda to run into trouble, too. And this is when her grudge against the town begins.

"What is your experience like living in Richmond and interacting with the people there? How would

you describe it?" "And a nightmare." "I mean, when you first came in 2021, you know, things had a nightmare."

"I nightmare, and say you're not gonna nightmare, just I moved here." From Melinda's perspective, what looks like a cozy small town on the surface is rife with lies, corruption, and mismanagement that goes all the way to the top. "I'll show you how corrupt the town is, really." "Okay." "These people here in the school are mild, they're nothing compared to what the village is." Like many municipal dramas, the story starts

with a fence. "Well, I was gonna build a fence." "Yes, so I called the village up and I said,

“you need to look at this broder thinking, the sidewalk is thinking, this needs to be fixed before”

I build, I guess, and what this is?" Melinda asked the council to fix up the sinking road, but they didn't. Turns out, when the house next door had been abandoned, the village had simply shut off their water, and the old pipes had been leaking underground for years. So, Melinda's fence project had become a bit more expensive. She hired her new friend Ricky Manz to dig a hole, she builds the village for exactly $623 and $97. The village offered to pay around $400 at the

bill. Melinda is furious they won't pay the whole bill, so she starts investigating the village

pay me for my fence premium." "And I thought, whoa, you're paying, I had a new man, $20 an hour

for maintaining the village, but yet that's seen months, they're hiring just somebody in town here to trim the trees for $35 an hour." "Wasting a money, wasting over money when a village is already going through." "This is Melinda's drain-the-swamp revelation. She thinks Mayor Brad is guilty of mismanagement to the point of corruption, and she wants to put him on blast." "Why started posting the minute for the meeting?" "On Facebook?" "On Facebook?" "Yeah." "Okay." "And I'm writing it like any

people wake up. This is what they're spending on money on, but they can't pay me for $600. Come on,

“wake up, you know, so that's what she didn't like it, and I opened up a big cat of worms because”

nobody ever questioned or stood up to them." "The council bends and pays Melinda the full $623

and $97, but it's too late. They're on her bad side now." "But that's the problem here, nobody wants to speak up because they don't want to cause ruffles because they'd like her all their lives." "So she creates that Facebook group, which mound an area scoop. There, she speaks her mind, and the back and forth sked heated." "I told you some nasty stuff. It's really ugly stuff." "Like what?" "My thoughts about people like you don't even know maybe you should know about pregnant

so we don't know maybe we would have bought an education and it's not that kind of stuff." "Right, it's not a link, but you know what?" "They just wouldn't quit." "This is the moment when the division and rich mound really began. Lines are drawn. You're either with Melinda or you're against her and her allies?" "They ever be harassed because I was their friend." Melinda sets her friends are targeted for being associated with her.

Now, the citizens are divided into two camps. Melinda and her friends, who call themselves the seniors, versus Mayor Brad and his supporters, the elites. "Mayor called the elites,

“a town." "They call themselves actors. That's what you mean." "They call them." "Okay, it's what you call them.”

Got it." "We are. Okay." "Yeah." "That's nothing." "Check it down." "Be a elites." This label applies to people like Brad, Shawna, and anyone whom Melinda sees as complicit in this grand conspiracy. And in some ways, it's apt. While rich mound is generally a lower income town, there is a

clear wealth gap in rich mound, basically divided by the highway. On one side, there's Melinda and

Ricky, who live in smaller, more rundown bungalows. And on the other side, is Brad Street, where the houses are more like suburban McMansions with manicured gardens. It lead is also the word you hear Queen Romana and the broader QAnon movement used to

“describe the secret cabal that she's trying to take down. So when the Queen arrived in town,”

it didn't take long for her and Melinda to find some common ground, a rather common enemies. And it all started at the protest. A protest Melinda wanted no pardon. "I don't need this garbage running down my street here. I'm hiding their horns. So I walked the road." "Okay. I'll write in the mail of the road. Run me down if you're gonna." She did more than stand in the road. She went on the attack. Getting up in people's faces with her

phone. She even targeted an independent reporter from medicine had. She says "You're a pedophile." "You don't seem like a crazy person at all. I'm not one bit." They both have cell phones in each other's faces and are throwing insults. All while the rich-mount protest plays out around them. "Do I often harass right now? Look at her. I don't earn a fraction. You little bitches. I was just recording him. I was in his face constantly to let him know

that I don't like you asshole and get the hell out of here." And it was at this moment that Romana saw a kindred spirit and summoned her to her court. "And after I was running, it's kind of to this little track."

"That's what I first met her." "What was your first impression?"

“"Wonder." "Molinda is welcomed into the cult's fold. She starts getting to know the group.”

She gets invited to the school for dinners." "By the way, they have wonderful food, fate vegetarian, and I mean anything and everything. It's like a play, a concert, a play." "She's there for meals, and she even starts receiving mail for them. Molinda is getting friendlier and friendlier with the cult." "Would you consider yourself a member of you know, Queen Romana and her colleagues?" "I don't get fit in my self, but at this point,

I call them my friends." "Do you call Queen Romana, a friend?" "Well, I know that she isn't going to meet her." "I'm like, I say, unless one of you does something to me, I don't judge people.

I've always been one of these people that will form my own opinion."

"It's interesting to hear her argue she's not a cult member when she's literally hosting them on her land and is a minister in Romana's fantasy government. But Molinda says she's not a true believer, though she understands the appeal of Romana's way of thinking." "Because you've very remember, some of these people that cannot afford or at the bottom of the barrel are ready. They're done, and I've seen it. So Queen Romana is giving these people some hope,

but no even tax, you know, that, you know, well, that's a good world out there. I don't want to have to pay in for tax." "It sounds like you do agree with a lot of what she's saying." "Absolutely, I agree, I wouldn't do it. But yet, they're treating them like a cult." Molinda doesn't think the group is a cult, and neither do they. Often railing against that notion in their broadcasts. "Now let's debunk the fake news, and in quotes, the cult was

quote narrative about her Royal Majesty's Queen Romana digital and teen." "While we're here, a note

“on the word cult. It's not a word I use lightly, but I've said it a lot. I believe they are a cult,”

and they've been labeled one by academics. They follow the agreed upon criteria closely, indoctrination into a specific worldview, exploitation of their followers, and, of course, a charismatic leader. But Molinda doesn't see it that way. Instead of a cult, Molinda sees the group as a sort of startup political party." "This is how I look at it. How did the Queen Peace party come in effect? How did the NGP come into effect? How did the liberals and how did

the conservatives and whatever the communist party out there? How did they start? They have to start somewhere." "Okay, so then are you, do you think she's a Queen?" "You're laughing?" "I don't laugh. Well, I'm not going to this way. She wants to slow herself a Queen. She can be whoever she wants. So, do you, do you see her as a Queen?" "You know, I'm really just don't know that. I'm sorry,

“yeah. Honestly, I'm still, I'm still, I'm still, I'm still, I'm still, be good,”

entertaining that one." "You're still thinking about it?" "Yeah, I'm still, I'm still analyzing."

But while she's analyzing, she's also plotting. With Molinda, there's always a plan hatching.

And this time, she has an idea to take mayor Brad down. "My sister and I, we're talking about it and trying to get rid of the correct counsel as we need to give these S.O.Vs out of office." "I'm surprised by how much I actually enjoy Molinda. I may not want her as my neighbor, but I like talking to her. She's funny with a ton of personality. I know she's involved in a lot of conflict in town, but she's gotten a good deal of backlash, too.

But there's one point, Tom and Molinda have both made that I just can't let's sit. The idea that the cult is harmless. Putting aside the execution letters and their constant surveillance of the town's people, the cult is doing real harm to their followers. Many of them have followed Ramana's decrees to a T, and lost their homes or gone into debt. I hear about a couple in their 70s from Quebec, who lost their home,

which was valued at over a million dollars.

The couple refused to pay $11,500 in municipal taxes because of one of Ramana's decrees.

But every night, the cult's broadcast demands more donations from followers to keep their

“compound going, and the members are often older, worked around the clock,”

isolated from their families, and some even seem willing to sign everything over to Ramana. Back in Richmond, it's late in November 2023. The cult has been gone from the school for two weeks, then suddenly, word spreads. Someone has spotted RVs driving back into town, back into the Richmond school grounds. For mayor Brad and former teacher Shana, this is the worst possible news. They find themselves right back where they started. Except now, the cult is even more emboldened.

They have a network of supporters in Richmond, people like Ricky, Tom, and Melinda. Plus, Mayor Brad has spent at least $20,000 of the town's little budget trying to get the call to out. Getting the bylaw officer in, hiring lawyers to write warrants that have been slapped down. $20,000 and nothing's changed. Shana tries to fundraise to cover some of the legal bills. She starts to go fund me that rakes in

some pretty funny donations. $5 from an account calling itself, Ikki Sticky Tricky Ricky Manz, and $25 from one posting as Ramana, saying, "Even I want out of this place." All told, the go fund me raises about $13,000, which doesn't really come close to covering the bill which Mount has already spent. So now, when Shana hears the cult is back in her school, something breaks inside her. So I made a bee line to town. I was furious.

And I just drove right up. I got out of my vehicle, took my phone out, and started recording, and addressing them. Where's the real queen who would actually talk to the people in the place that she's occupying? Ramana is no queen of anything. Ramana, go back to the Philippines. I suppose they don't want you there either. I was kind of vibrating that like not knowing

“are they going to come out and take me down, throw me down on the ground, or shoot at me, or, you know?”

This is not the Shana I first met. The small town school teacher who'd never even been to a protest

before. This Shana is ready to do whatever she needs to to take back her town. And the other locals on her side are right there with her. Just in the last little while I've said the hell with it, you know, I'll take one for the team if I have to. I'm taking my town back. Next time on the cult queen of Canada, the battle escalates. Huku, fucking crazy people in this town. Not jokes. I would burn the school down. You know what they

say if you can't do the time, you don't do the crime. I fear some of the locals more than the cult.

They're more extreme. They've been far more vocal. And Richmond finds a way to finally settle

“this thing once and for all. Are you running for mayor in the next election?”

Tune in next week for an all new episode of the cult queen of Canada, or you can listen ahead to the full series now by subscribing to CBC True Crime Premium on Apple Podcasts, or by subscribing to the CBC True Crime channel on YouTube, links in the description. The cult queen of Canada is a production of new metric media and news entertainment for CBC Podcasts. The show is hosted by me, Rachel Brown. It's written and produced by Pippa John Stone and Rachel Brown. The series producer is Chris Kelly.

Sound design and original music by Mark Angle. Our senior producer is Jeff Turner. Our digital producer is Emily Knell. The series was developed by Chris Kelly, Courtney Dobbins and Rachel Brown. For new metric media, the executive producer is Marc Montefiora. The vice president of podcast are Chris Kelly and Pat Kelly. For Muse Entertainment, the executive producers are Courtney Dobbins in Jonas Prupis. For CBC, the executive producers are Cecil Fernandez and Chris Oak.

Tonya Springer is the senior manager, and RF Narani is the director of CBC Podcasts. If you're enjoying the show, consider checking out another series from CBC. One of my favorites is called Durpeg Climer. Host Stephen Chua takes us through a stranger than fiction story about a

You can find it along with all other CBC podcasts wherever you get your podcasts.