President of the professors' union of École normale de Laval from 1968 to 1970 and then became President of le Association québécoise des professeurs de français from 1970 to 1972, he was the founding Co-President of the Mouvement Québec français in 1970 and member of its executive committee.
Gaulin ran in the 1994 Quebec provincial election for the seat of Taschereau and won handily serving as a backbench supporter of the Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard governments.
Vice-President of the Association of Members of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Québec chapter, in 2003, and then became president in 2004.
He received the honour of Chevalier of le Ordre des Palmes Académiques by France in 1985, promoted to Officer in 1996 and Commander in 2006.
In 2000, he was awarded the bronze medal by the Société nationale des québécois de la capital, and the Prix Georges-Émile-Lapalme in 2003.