The main campus Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology is in Thunder Bay, Ont., which is Eastern Canada’s sunniest city, averaging 2,167 sunshine hours per year. It also has eight regional learning sites, serving a catchment area of about 550,000 km. A leader in Aboriginal learning, Confederation has a large Aboriginal student population and embeds a system of Aboriginal Learning Outcomes (ALO) into all its programs. The college also has multiple Aboriginal-based programs, including Aboriginal community advocacy and Native child and family services.

Confederation offers 60 diploma, certificate, apprenticeship and educational-upgrading programs in a wide variety of subjects. Its programs and research projects are geared toward serving the workforce needs of northwestern Ontario. Confederation was the first college in Ontario to have a comprehensive student mental health and well-being strategy.

Confederation’s strategic plan emphasizes applied research in natural resources, green energy, wellness and Aboriginal learning. The construction of a state-of-the-art Biomass Energy Facility is under way at its Thunder Bay campus. Biomass energy is produced from renewable, biological sources like plant material. The facility will provide primary heating for much of the Thunder Bay campus. This project led to the creation OPG BioEnergy Learning and Research Centre (BLRC), which showcases technology developed in the construction of the Biomass Energy Facility. The BLRC includes a “living lab” for the benefit of faculty, students and industry partners.