Struggle persists for city woman in addiction fight
Napope has beat crystal meth, but had to overcome relapse to get on right path
The past year and a half has been a whirlwind of prison time, methamphetamine use, and recovery for Saskatoon woman Crystal Napope.
The 35-year-old mother of six was arrested on a serious robbery charge, spent more than a quarter of 2017 in prison, had a short-lived drug relapse and lost custody of her three youngest kids.
For Napope, those incidents are connected to a painful past of intergenerational addiction and abuse within her family.
In 2016, she was aiming to put the darkness behind her. That year, then-StarPhoenix reporter Jason Warick told Napope’s story of redemption after a life-altering confrontation with Saskatoon police officer Const. Matthew Ingrouille in January 2015.
Napope had been high on crystal meth and holding a pellet gun while facing the officer, begging him to shoot her. Ingrouille did not.
Over the following 18 months, Napope sought to get on the right track, getting clean and regaining custody of her three youngest children while reconnecting with her three oldest, who lived in St. Louis with their foster mother.
Napope’s cheerleaders at the Elizabeth Fry Society, her kids’ foster mother, Loretta Vandale, and her own teen son Calvin were impressed with how she turned things around.
Caring for her youngest kids, Noah, Eden and Ivory, in a Saskatoon home, Napope approached the end of 2016 with optimism and a sense of stability after a life that was far from that — she had been raised in an environment rife with sex abuse, addiction, and a lack of nurturing.
Living on her own with her kids, things took a downward turn after she started spending time with people from her past who lived nearby, and who still use drugs.
“I thought I was strong enough to be near them and be around them without (drugs), with saying no and all this stuff, and it just so happens that I wasn’t able to,” she said.
Napope lost touch with her positive influences and supports. The life she had worked so hard to build up for her kids and herself crumbled.
On Dec. 26, 2016, she and two others were arrested and later charged with extortion, accused of using a gun to force the owner of a vehicle to sign a bill of sale for it.
Napope said she is fighting the charges with the help of the Elizabeth Fry Society and is scheduled to stand trial in September. The charges have “deteriorated a lot of my life,” she said.
Napope is on 24-hour house arrest while her trial is pending. She has faced numerous breach charges, which landed her in custody or treatment for between two days and five weeks at a time. Altogether, she spent about four and a half months in custody last year.
In August and September, Napope took court-ordered treatment at Ahtahkakoop’s Cree Nations Treatment Centre, where she attended a life-changing sweat with her three oldest children.
Months later, sitting in an office at the Elizabeth Fry Society, tears rolled down her face as she recalled an elder telling her he could see her wings when she walked into the lodge.
She said the elder told her that her Cree “native name,” which translates to Earth Angel in English.
“He says, ‘You handle things as best as you can and you handle storms ... In the end you’re still that earth angel, you’re still that person that can handle a lot,’ ” she said. “Ever since then I hold that deep and I hold that close to my heart, knowing that that’s ... who I am and what I am.”
The treatment centre’s executive director, Freda Ahenakew, notes that cheap, easy access to crystal meth is dangerous. After years of use, people come into treatment with liver and dental damage and other serious health effects. If the drug is still in a person’s system, their behaviour on admittance can be erratic, fidgety, and include talking to themselves.
Ahenakew said many come in on court orders, like Napope did, and it’s difficult to get through to people who aren’t ready for treatment. When they do get stable again, it’s very rewarding for people like her.
“Once they get on track, they’re different people,” Ahenakew said.
After spending time in prison for a breach in early December, Napope said she wants to get her outstanding court matters cleared up and then find a stable home so she can regain custody of her two youngest children, daughters Ivory and Eden, who are five and two years old.
Since the StarPhoenix last spoke to Napope, her relationship with her oldest son Calvin has grown more strained.
In the summer, he saw her hiccups on the road to sobriety and struggled to understand why she couldn’t stop doing drugs when so many people love her and want her in their lives.
As she rebuilds, Napope must overcome those strains. She said she is now regularly talking to her older son, who is an accomplished high school athlete. She has not lost hope.
“Right now I’m picking myself back up and starting from scratch, and I know I can do it,” she said.
Napope said she wants to encourage anyone else going through difficult times not to lose touch with the ones they love, and not to stash away secrets.
“I can’t let myself fall too much because it’s only making other people worry for me and you know, not knowing if I’m alive or dead is what it comes down to, and I don’t like giving people that I care about those thoughts,” she said.
“I imagine my children are feeling what I’m going through too, so I know that I need to step aside from all that and be there for them.” Where Are They Now is an occasional feature updating our audience on newsmakers from the past. If you have a suggestion for a subject, please email citydesk@thestarphoenix.com or call 306-380-4035.