Yes. This is set out in the act.
Initially, this salary protection did not exist. This was brought in by means of an amendment to the act in 1988 which set the Commissioner's salary at the same level as that of a Federal Court judge.
You talked about the Commissioner's independence. There are four components to this: non-interference by the government, adequate financial resources, the ability to report to Parliament without seeking the government's permission and direct access to the courts.
Our legal advisors are not Department of Justice employees; they are our employees, our legal counsel. We recently went to court as an intervener in the SAANB-Paulin case, which was heard by the Supreme Court. The RCMP uses lawyers from the Department of Justice in its defence. Since we have our own lawyers, there is no conflict of interest if they have to testify against an institution that uses government lawyers.