Émilie Tremblay, nee Fortin (1872 – 1949)
	
Marie-Émilie Fortin was born in Saint-Joseph d’Alma, Quebec to Cleophas and Mme Fortin. She was educated at the Sisters of the Congregation of St-Roch convent grammar school. Her family moved to Cohes, New York around 1887 where, in 1893, she met and married Pierre-Nolasque "Jack" Tremblay.((“Émilie Fortin Tremblay.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_Fortin_Tremblay)) 

Émilie and Jack travelled to Forty Mile, via the Chilkoot Pass, in 1894. They returned to Cohes in 1895 and travelled to Quebec City and Montreal before returning to Cohes where Émilie looked after her sick mother for two years. In 1898, they returned to the Yukon and settled in Grand Forks where Jack prospected. In 1913, Jack retired and bought a building at King Street and Third Avenue. Émilie ran a lady’s store and they lived in an apartment upstairs. In 1922, Tremblay founded and was the first president of the Society of the Ladies of the Golden North, and in 1927, she served as president of the Yukon Order of Pioneers Auxiliary.((“Émilie Fortin Tremblay.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_Fortin_Tremblay)) 
	
Mme Tremblay operated a general ladies' store from about 1914 to about 1938. When she started her business, she brought in one shipment of goods from Paris, including Parisian gowns. When the First World War broke out shipping was impossible, and Dawson's population declined.((Victoria Faulkner, "Historic Buildings." National Historic Site Division, National Parks Branch.)) 

After Jack died in 1935, she travelled for a bit. She went to Vancouver to attend the "Ladies of the Golden North" convention, and to Quebec City where she received honours from the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She received a lifetime membership and a commemorative medal in 1937 at the coronation of King George VI. She returned to the Yukon to sell her shop.((“Émilie Fortin Tremblay.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_Fortin_Tremblay)) Mrs. Poirier [niece?], operated the store while she was away.((Victoria Faulkner, "Historic Buildings." National Historic Site Division, National Parks Branch.)) Emilie and Jack had no children, so they had adopted two nieces.((Yann Herry, //La Francophane: une richesse nordique / Northern Portraits.// L’Association franco-yukonaise, 2004: 45.)) 

In 1940, Émilie married Louis Lagrois and they moved to a log cabin at Grand Forks. She spent her last years in a retirement home in Victoria, British Columbia. Ecole Emilie-Tremblay, Yukon’s first francophone school, is named in her honour.((“Émilie Fortin Tremblay.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_Fortin_Tremblay))