Julie Winnefred Bertrand

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Julie Winnefred Bertrand (September 16, 1891 - January 18, 2007) was the oldest living Canadian and oldest living validated woman in the world at the time of her death at age 115 years and 124 days.

The oldest living Canadian since the death of Sister Anne Samson on November 29, 2004, she was only one month younger than Emiliano Mercado del Toro, the oldest living person in the world. Bertrand was also the second-longest-lived person in Canadian history, with only Marie-Louise Meilleur (who died in 1998 at age 117½ years) living longer.

When she was a young woman, Ms. Bertrand was courted by future Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. However, she never married.

As of 2004, when she turned 113, Bertrand was reported as being in fairly good health, dressing daily, had her hair done bi-weekly, and enjoyed a glass of wine on special occasions. Her memory was quite good, and she could recognize most of her friends and relatives. At that time she was reported living at her long-time residence in Montreal.

She became the oldest living woman on December 11, 2006, with the death of Elizabeth Bolden. Final reports on her told a story of a woman sleeping almost all the time. On her death, American supercentenarian Emma Tillman, 114, became the oldest living woman.

With the January 24, 2007 death of Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, Madame Bertrand missed the 'oldest person' title by a mere six days (comfortably breaking the previous record of 31 days, held by Yukichi Chuganji).