During the Fall 2025 NAITSA Clubs Showcase, a new club appeared that was hard to ignore. With their bright red banners, hammer-and-sickle logos and Soviet-style fonts on their signs, there was no mistaking that the communists had set up shop at NAIT.
The Revolutionary Communists at NAIT (RCN) is a NAITSA club started by NAIT students who are members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada, a far-left political organization that is primarily Marxist in its ideological orientation.
Club president Jet Boutin, an Electrical Engineering Technology student, did not mince words about the club’s goals.
“The main thing we do as a political party is to build a political force that’s able to overthrow capitalism. That’s obviously the end goal of everything that we do,” they said.
However, Boutin, who uses they/them pronouns, also admitted that as a new organization within NAIT, the club is still at that “feeling out” stage to measure how receptive NAIT students will be towards them.
“We’re just trying to find people who are dedicated and want to fight for that cause,” says Boutin. They added that universities and colleges are a good place to find other eager young people.
But the caution is warranted given that NAIT is not exactly known for being an ideological hot spot. At present, there are only four recognized student clubs in NAIT that are political or ideological in nature, including the Student Conservatives at NAIT, who did not reply to the Nugget’s interview requests for this article.
The lack of political clubs on campus does not necessarily indicate political apathy on the part of students. Most academic programs at NAIT last for only two years or less. Many of NAIT’s intense, hands-on programs don’t leave space for any organization that might require considerable dedication and resources to maintain an active status. Even just joining a club can seem like a lot on top of a full schedule, labs and weekly assignments.
“It’s much more of an attitude just like, ‘I’m here to get a job.’”
This is something Boutin has noticed as well. “NAIT in particular, there’s not a lot of activism or … explicitly political activities happening on campus, at least from what I’ve seen.” They add, “It’s much more of an attitude just like, ‘I’m here to get a job.’”
A special requirement
As a club that has political advocacies, NAITSA requires RCN and other political clubs to place a disclaimer on all their promotional material that states the views they express are theirs alone and do not represent those of NAIT or NAITSA.
According to NAITSA Campus Clubs Manager Rose Martin Baumgartner, this additional requirement exists because “there is a potential for audiences to perceive NAITSA or NAIT as endorsing the views presented by these groups.”
In an email to the Nugget, she adds that the disclaimer is there to ensure it is clear that “NAITSA and NAIT remain non-partisan and do not take positions on political or ideological views.”
Boutin says they have no issues with NAITSA’s requirements as these have not prevented RCN from their “bread and butter work” of setting up promotional campaigns or holding public presentations.
But Boutin noticed that RCN was the only club placing disclaimers on their promotions, noting that they do not “see the [Student Conservatives at NAIT] needing to make a statement.”
The other two clubs tagged as “social justice” on Ooks Life (Student Conservatives at NAIT and Young Workers for Peace) do not have a disclaimer on their Ooks Life page. But the Student Conservatives did have a disclaimer on posters seen in late March promoting the club’s bonfire event in April.
Baumgartner says the disclaimer requirement is communicated to the leaders of political or ideological clubs during their onboarding stage, but the responsibility is on the student executive teams after that.
While she mentioned the RCN’s diligence in consistently placing the disclaimer on all their promotions, she acknowledges that the absence of the disclaimer on the Ooks Life landing pages of other political or ideological clubs is an “opportunity for us [NAITSA] to review our internal process to ensure greater consistency moving forward.”
Going against the grain
Aside from NAITSA’s internal requirements, there are challenges in the bigger picture. It’s hard enough to try to turn a non-politically inclined student body into a politically aware one.
But when the idea being promoted is almost the exact opposite of what is the predominant thought, then this affects the ability of people to be open to new ideas. I am, of course, talking about Alberta’s well-earned reputation of being a bulwark of conservatism in Canada.
With their bright red banners, hammer-and-sickle logos and Soviet-style fonts on their signs, there was no mistaking that the communists had set up shop at NAIT.
But as Boutin sees it, the RCN provides value to the NAIT student community in a couple different ways. First, they provide an alternative to the predominant political ideology by giving clear political perspectives that explain why current events happen the way they do.
And second, they provide a space or outlet for like-minded and curious students to be able to discuss politics freely and show that these ideas aren’t as rare or fringe as they are made out to be.
Political clubs are not the norm at NAIT, unlike at University of Alberta or even MacEwan. But as Boutin says, young people are in “a very precarious position.”
“Especially right now where it’s extremely hard to get a job. There’s no prospect of owning a home. Starting a family, for many people, is not even a real possibility that they can even imagine. And so people are just kind of losing faith in the system,” says Boutin.
It’s an optimal time for students to have their say in how the system should work, and student voices should not be limited to university political science majors. But students at polytechnics or trade schools need to start somewhere if they want to see a change — and NAIT could be the place.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Nugget’s April 2026 print issue. Read it here.
Feature image via NAITSA
