Contact North

What Contact North does

Contact North is a not-for-profit corporation, headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and funded continuously by the Government of Ontario since 1986. The organization provides free services that help Ontario residents — particularly adults in small, rural, northern, remote, Indigenous, and Francophone communities — find, select, and register in online education and training programs offered by Ontario's public colleges, universities, Indigenous Institutes, district school boards, and Get SET providers. Service delivery was historically channeled through 350 local access points staffed by regional Education & Training Advisors, but the organization transitioned to fully virtual operations in 2024 while maintaining phone, email, live chat, and virtual support. Contact North also serves as a free EdTech platform provider for Ontario's post-secondary institutions, delivering 6,000+ online courses and supporting 44,000 learners annually on its infrastructure.

Contact North's product portfolio spans four AI-powered applications — AI Tutor Pro (personalized multilingual tutoring), AI Pathfinder Pro (career/education opportunity exploration), AI Trades Explorer Pro (Ontario trades pathways), and AI Teaching Assistant Pro (faculty workload reduction) — alongside EdTech infrastructure including Moodle (asynchronous LMS), BigBlueButton (synchronous virtual classroom), and Extended Reality (XR) for immersive learning. Complementary services include a free Laptop Loaner Service (Windows 11 Pro devices for eligible students), e-Channel.ca for Get SET courses, teachonline.ca for faculty resources, and interactive program/course guides covering 368 university programs, 210 college programs, and 250+ free Get SET courses.

The business model is direct-to-consumer plus community-led, with all services provided free of charge to end users. The sole revenue stream is a $10M CAD annual grant from the Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. The organization employs 101-250 staff, is governed by a volunteer board representing Ontario's public colleges, universities, Indigenous Institutes, district school boards, Indigenous and Francophone communities, and is led by President and CEO Maxim Jean-Louis.

Name

Contact North

Legal name

Contact North | Contact Nord

Website

https://contactnorth.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Contact North is a not-for-profit Ontario government-funded organization, established in 1986, that provides free online education access support, AI-powered learning tools, and EdTech platforms to Ontario residents — particularly rural, remote, northern, Indigenous, and Francophone learners — and to the province's colleges and universities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Thunder Bay

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Funded by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security continuously since 1986. Current annual funding amount is $10 million. This is a not-for-profit corporation that receives government funding to provide free services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Contact North is a not-for-profit corporation that provides free online education access services to Ontario residents and education providers. It offers personalized one-on-one advising to help learners find and register in online programs and courses, free EdTech platforms (Moodle, BigBlueButton, Extended Reality) to colleges, universities, and training providers, and a suite of AI-powered tools (AI Tutor Pro, AI Pathfinder Pro, AI Trades Explorer Pro, AI Teaching Assistant Pro) for students, jobseekers, and faculty.

Product overview

Contact North is a free government-funded service that helps Ontario residents access online education and training. The organization offers a portfolio of AI-powered tools including AI Tutor Pro (for students), AI Pathfinder Pro and AI Trades Explorer Pro (for job seekers), and AI Teaching Assistant Pro (for faculty). It provides EdTech platform services including Moodle (asynchronous learning management), BigBlueButton (synchronous virtual classroom), and Extended Reality (XR) for immersive learning. Additional services include a free Laptop Loaner Service, e-Channel.ca for Get SET courses, teachonline.ca for faculty resources, and comprehensive Program & Course Guides. The organization supports over 50,000 online learners annually across Ontario's colleges, universities, and training providers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AI Tutor Pro: AI-powered personalized and multilingual learning tool for students to learn anything, anytime, anywhere
• AI Pathfinder Pro
• AI Trades Explorer Pro
• AI Teaching Assistant Pro
• e-Channel.ca
• teachonline.ca

Products and services

• AI Tutor Pro AI-powered personalized and multilingual learning tool that allows students to learn anything, anytime, anywhere. Free to Ontario students.
• AI Pathfinder Pro AI tool that helps job seekers explore education and training opportunities for new or emerging jobs or promotions in Canada. Free to use.
• AI Trades Explorer Pro AI tool that helps users explore education and training opportunities for new or emerging jobs or promotions specifically in Ontario trades. Free to use.
• AI Teaching Assistant Pro AI-powered assistant built by Contact North to reduce faculty and instructor workload and enhance teaching. Free for educators.
• EdTech Platform Service Free EdTech platform service for Ontario's public colleges, universities, Indigenous Institutes, and training providers to deliver online programs and courses. Includes Moodle (asynchronous LMS), BigBlueButton (synchronous virtual classroom), Extended Reality (XR) for immersive learning, IT technical hotline, and faculty training.
• Laptop Loaner Service Free laptop loan service for eligible Ontario residents to study online, providing laptops with 14-16 inch screens, Intel I3/I5 or AMD Ryzen5 CPU, 8GB RAM, Windows 11 Pro.
• e-Channel.ca Online portal providing access to 250+ free online courses from Ontario's Get SET (Skills, Education and Training) program providers including ACE Distance, Deaf Learn Now, Good Learning Anywhere, Formation à Distance, and The LearningHub.
• Program & Course Guides Informative, interactive guides featuring 210 online college full-time programs, 368 online university programs, and 250+ free Get SET courses from Ontario education providers.
• Education & Training Advising Service Free personalized one-on-one support from Education & Training Advisors to help Ontario learners find, select, and register in online programs and courses, plus information on financial aid. Delivered via 350 local access points (now fully virtual), phone, email, live chat, and Facebook Messenger.

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves 50,000+ online learners and delivers 33,000+ course registrations annually
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Ontario Public CollegescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOntario's 24 public colleges partner with Contact North to deliver online programs and courses. Contact North provides recruitment support and free EdTech platforms.
• Ontario Public UniversitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOntario's public universities partner with Contact North to deliver 368 online degree and certificate programs. Contact North provides recruitment support and technology platforms.
• Indigenous InstitutescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOntario's Indigenous Institutes partner with Contact North to provide culturally appropriate online education options for Indigenous learners.
• Get SET (Skills, Education and Training) ProviderscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGet SET providers including ACE Distance, Deaf Learn Now, Good Learning Anywhere, Formation à Distance (F@D), and The LearningHub partner with Contact North to offer 250+ free online courses.
• District School BoardscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOntario's district school boards partner with Contact North to provide online education options for secondary students and adult learners.
• eCampus OntariomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to explore tools and programs supporting teaching, digital skills development, and student outcomes.
• OntarioLearnmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help learners find courses, register with a college, and learn any time, anywhere through Ontario's online learning consortium.
• ontransfer.caminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResource for transferring courses and finding pathways between Ontario's public colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes.
• Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to provide access to latest studies and reports on policy, access, and student success in Ontario's post-secondary education system.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• eCampus Ontario: eCampus Ontario is a provincially-funded not-for-profit consortium that supports online and digital learning across Ontario's post-secondary sector. Closely comparable to Contact North in mandate, government funding model, and focus on enabling Ontario's online education ecosystem.
• BCcampus: BCcampus is a British Columbia government-funded organization that supports teaching, learning, and educational technology across BC's post-secondary institutions. Directly comparable to Contact North as a provincial intermediary providing EdTech support and educational resources to learners and institutions.
• Campus Manitoba: Campus Manitoba is a Manitoba-based consortium that facilitates online and distance education for the province's post-secondary institutions. Highly comparable to Contact North in model, scale, and provincial mandate to expand access to online learning.
• OntarioLearn: OntarioLearn is a consortium of Ontario colleges offering online courses and programs. While a closer partner than competitor to Contact North, it serves an overlapping function of facilitating online course access for Ontario learners, making it a relevant peer in the online education access space.

Broad incumbents

• Athabasca University: Athabasca University is Canada's largest online/distance education university, serving learners across all provinces. Comparable as a Canadian leader in online education access, though it operates as a degree-granting institution rather than a support intermediary like Contact North.
• Thompson Rivers University Open Learning: TRU Open Learning is one of Canada's largest open learning providers, offering programs and courses via distance education to learners nationwide. Comparable in serving geographically dispersed Canadian learners seeking online education, though it operates as a degree-granting institution.
• Royal Roads University: Royal Roads University is a Canadian university with a strong online and blended learning portfolio. Comparable as a Canadian institution focused on innovative digital learning delivery, particularly for adult and working learners, though at a different institutional scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/contactnorth
• Facebookfacebook.com/ContactNorth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/contact-north
• Instagraminstagram.com/contactnorth

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Contact North