Independence means a judge decides according to law and conscience, free from pressure by governments, parties or public mood. The tradition secures it structurally: appointment during good behaviour, salaries that cannot be reduced, removal only for proved misconduct through a protective process, and administrative control of courts kept at arm's length from ministries.
The guarantee is for litigants, not judges — especially the litigant suing the government in the government's own courts. Its corollary is accountability by different means: open hearings, published reasons, and correction on appeal rather than by dismissal.
Judicial independence is constitutionally protected — through ss. 96–100 of the Constitution Act, 1867, s. 11(d) of the Charter, and unwritten principle — with independent commissions recommending judicial salaries precisely so governments never negotiate with judges directly.