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Pressure Cooker · CBC

Introducing: The Cult Queen of Canada from Uncover

March 4, 2026·39 min·3 clips
A cult leader calling herself the Queen of Canada pulls into a tiny prairie town and takes over the local school with her followers.
A Shopify sales pitch gives way to CBC. Rachel Brown opens a new season of Uncover with a blunt question: what happens when a conspiracy theory rolls into a small prairie community? Rich Mound is tiny, a Saskatchewan village of just over 100 people. Its abandoned school becomes the base for Romana Didelo's self-declared kingdom and the followers who come with her. The setup sounds absurd, but Brown keeps it close to the ground. This is a standoff shaped by polarization, power vacuums, and a town that never asked to be anyone's test case. Brad enters through ordinary details: oil and gas work, meat sales for Cattle Boss, hunting, fishing, bush shows, and baseball. He loves Lord of the Rings. That portrait matters because he does not sound like a polished politician. Public speaking used to rattle him. Romana Didelo's arrival pushes him into a public role where his nerves and instincts are suddenly part of the story. He expected budgets, local fixes, and manageable village work. Then the phone call came. While he and his wife were camping, someone asked whether he knew the queen was there. He figured it was a joke. By the time he got home, the concern in town had become personal. A 12-year-old boy came to his step, scared by the lights at the school at night. That moment moves the story away from spectacle and into what it felt like for residents living beside a movement they did not choose. The excerpt ends with CBC naming the production team and sending listeners to the second episode of The Cult Queen of Canada on Uncover.

As heard by us

A prairie-town cult crisis told with restraint, local voices, and a clear civic edge.

The episode tracks a cult leader who calls herself the Queen of Canada into Rich Mound, Saskatchewan, where an abandoned school turns into the center of a strange local standoff.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a prairie-town cult standoff told through local voices, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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