Does a parent still have to pay child support if they are not seeing the child?

Yes. Child support and parenting time (formerly called access) are legally separate obligations in Ontario. A payor parent does not get to reduce or stop child support simply because they are not exercising their parenting time, and a recipient parent cannot withhold parenting time because support is not being paid. Courts treat these as independent duties and will not use one as a bargaining chip for the other.

The rationale is that support belongs to the child, not to the parent. A child's financial needs do not disappear because a parent is absent. Even if a payor has no relationship with the child at all, they remain financially responsible as long as they are a legal parent (by birth, adoption, or acknowledgment).

If parenting time is not happening because the other parent is interfering, the remedy is a motion to enforce parenting time — not withholding support. Conversely, if support is unpaid, the Family Responsibility Office can enforce the order through wage garnishment, licence suspension, and other tools without involving the parenting schedule. Both issues can be addressed simultaneously in court, but each has its own process. A lawyer can advise you on enforcement of either obligation.