Contact North | Contact Nord is Already Helping Turn Canada’s AI Strategy into Practical Support for Learners, Workers and Educators
Canada’s new National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All calls for every post-secondary student to have access to trusted AI agents, from the arts and commerce to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and medicine.
As Ontario’s Community-based Access Network, Contact North | Contact Nord is already providing four free, fully functional, multilingual AI apps and expert practical training to students, faculty, and post-secondary institutions.
Since 2023, through its AI Innovation & Development Lab, Contact North | Contact Nord developed four AI applications that already generated 3.5 million interactions from users across Canada and around the world, with usage increasing by approximately 60% over the past year. These interactions reflect a growing demand for AI-powered guidance, learning support, career exploration, and teaching assistance.
Contact North | Contact Nord’s Four, Free AI Apps
🎓 AI Tutor Pro
An AI personal tutor available whenever a learner needs help.
Many students struggle not because they lack ability, but because they lack support at the moment they need it.
AI Tutor Pro provides explanations, feedback, study assistance, and learning support whenever learners need help.
For online learners, especially those studying part time, balancing work and family responsibilities, or living far from traditional campus services, having help available at the moment it is needed can make the difference between giving up and moving forward.
🏫 AI Teaching Assistant Pro
An AI instructional designer and teaching assistant for faculty and instructors.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how educators design learning experiences, assess student work, and support learner success.
AI Teaching Assistant Pro helps faculty and instructors develop learning activities, create assessments, explore teaching strategies, and strengthen online learning experiences.
Its purpose is not to replace educators but to give them another tool they can use in their work.
🔎 AI Pathfinder Pro
An AI personal education, training and jobs advisor available 24/7.
For many people, figuring out what to study or what to do next is one of the hardest decisions they face.
Thousands of programs, credentials, training opportunities, and job options compete for attention. AI Pathfinder Pro helps users explore options connected to their goals, interests, and skills, helping them narrow their options and identify practical next steps.
Whether someone is considering a job change, returning to school, exploring a microcredential, or looking for a pathway to employment, the application helps them identify opportunities that make sense for their goals, interests, and situation.
🔨 AI Trades Explorer Pro
An AI skilled trades job coach and labour market guide.
Ontario faces growing demand for skilled workers across many trades. Yet many learners and job seekers remain unaware of the range of opportunities available to them.
AI Trades Explorer Pro helps users explore occupations, understand requirements, identify training options, and show how specific training options connect to actual jobs and other opportunities.
For individuals considering a future in the skilled trades, the application helps answer a simple question: What opportunities are available, and how do I get there?
Contact North | Contact Nord AI Innovation & Development Lab
The Lab was created to explore a straightforward question:
How can artificial intelligence help people learn, teach, find work, and make better educational decisions.
The Lab develops and tests applications intended to address specific problems faced by learners, educators, job seekers, and training providers.
The Lab also hosted two free, five-hour AI Institutes, attracting some 1,000 participants from Ontario, across Canada and around the world:
AI Tutor Pro and AI Teaching Assistant Pro: New Features and Teaching Possibilities (May 7, 2026)
How to Teach with AI Tutor Pro and AI Teaching Assistant Pro (December 10, 2025)
These Institutes provided practical, accessible learning opportunities focused on the effective use of AI in education.
A Practical Response to Canada’s AI Moment
Taken together, these applications address four common challenges: choosing a pathway, succeeding in learning, exploring careers, and improving teaching.
To support learners with these challenges, a number of Ontario institutions are already linking to AI Tutor Pro and AI Teaching Assistant Pro including:
- Algonquin College
- Brock University
- Conestoga College
- Fleming College
- St. Lawrence College
- University of Toronto
- University of Waterloo
- University of Windsor
For nearly four decades, Contact North | Contact Nord has focused on helping people living in Ontario, especially those in small, rural, northern, remote and Indigenous communities, access education and training without having to leave their communities.
Artificial intelligence now offers new ways to extend that mission.
