Still on an emotional high from last month's Olympics, Toronto got into the Paralympic spirit as the Paralympic torch wound its way through the city Friday.
Hundreds of people were at Nathan Phillips Square to see the torch stop at a celebration to light the cauldron.
Lt. Gov. David Onley passed the torch to athlete Jeff Adams.
"The inspiring images they're going to see over the next couple of weeks are just such a great way to take a look at our own lives and see what we can do to fuel those passions that we all have," the six-time Paralympian told CTV Toronto.
The flame arrived just after noon for the party, which featured demonstrations of Paralympic sports, as well as performances by Simone Soman, a young singer who is blind, and Adrian Anantawan, an internationally renowned violinist who was born with one hand.
Toronto's leg of the relay began with a lighting ceremony at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto on Spadina Road.
An aboriginal elder lit the flame and youth members, dancers, and drummers accompanied it by foot through part of downtown.
It made a stop at the Hospital for Sick Children along the way.
Mark Demontis, a blind man who rollerbladed from Toronto to Vancouver last summer, brought the torch into Nathan Phillips Square. Shayne Smith, a wheelchair basketball player, lit the cauldron.
"I go into rehab centres and I show kids who have recently become disabled that their life is not over -- it's just beginning," said wheelchair basketball player Shayne Smith, 21, who lost both legs and his left hand as an infant.
The Paralympic Games begin March 12 in Vancouver.
Advocate and torchbearer Lynn Ziraldo put the importance of the Games this way: "It breaks down barriers and gives people permission to talk about it."
With a report from CTV Toronto's Alicia Markson
