Gilbert Alfred Bouchard was born in McLennan, Alberta on July 26, 1961. He was raised in the Franco-Albertan community of Falher, Alberta. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton, Alberta to study at the University of Alberta's Faculte St-Jean.

A creative writing and classics student, Bouchard volunteered at The Gateway student newspaper, serving as Editor for the 1984-85 term. In the summer of 1986, he served as an intern reporter at the Edmonton Journal.

In 1987, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he worked as Production Manager for Campus Plus, an ad placement agency formed by Canadian University Press.

Bouchard returned to Edmonton in 1990. He joined the Downtown Business Association as Production Coordinator and Communications Consultant before moving on to work as Publicist for the Citadel Theatre from 1993 to 1996.

Since 1999, Bouchard has worked as a freelance writer. He wrote about the visual arts for the Edmonton Journal since 2001, and was a regular contributor to Ed Magazine.

From 1998 to 2005, Bouchard co-hosted and co-produced Acultural Cocktail, a weekly arts program on CJSR, the University of Alberta's campus radio station.

Since 2000, Bouchard was the arts correspondent on the CBC Edmonton radio program Radioactive, covering a wide range of events from visual arts to theatre to movies to opera. He appeared regularly on Primetime Alberta's weekly culture panel for ACCESS TV. In 1995, Bouchard wrote and voiced a CBC Ideas documentary on coffeehouse culture.

Bouchard has written hundreds of reviews, interviews, profiles and commentary pieces for myriad publications, including Where, Galleries West, Western Living, The Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Art and Legacy. At SEE Magazine, he logged a decade of theatre writing and four years as its restaurant and food writer.

Bouchard was also a published poet whose work appeared in numerous magazines including Other Voices, Queen's Quarterly, NeWest Review, Dalhousie Review, Whetstone, Green's Magazine, The Prairie Journal and Edmonton Transit's Take the Poetry Route program. In 1992, he served as one of the founding members of The Books Collective and edited one of its first publications, Leaving Marks, by Candas Jane Dorsey.

Bouchard has also hosted dozens of poetry readings, coffeehouses and other literary events, conducted professional writing workshops for students and adults, and was featured as a speaker at local science fiction and comics conventions. He curated an exhibit of Edmonton artists for the 2008 Mayor's Evening for the Arts Awards.

Bouchard was a Board Member and Youth Leader with the Unitarian Church of Edmonton. He helped to organize a Unitarian Universalist presence at the University of Alberta developing intellectually cutting-edge presentations with a popular culture focus.

Bouchard was a part of Edmonton's gay community, and he was involved in writing about and promoting gay issues for the community. He served on the Edmonton Police Service Gay and Lesbian Liaison Committee for several years.

Bouchard served on the board of Metro Cinema in Edmonton from 1992 and 1993. He joined the board of Latitude 53 Gallery in 1997 and he served as President in 2000-2001.

Gilbert Bouchard took his own life on April 20, 2009 by jumping from the High level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta. His body was found in the North Saskatchewan River on May 14, 2009.