It was ignited earlier just a few hundred metres away on Ottawa’s Victoria Island by Aboriginal firekeepers of the Pikwakanagan and Kitigan Zibi Algonquin bands.

More than 600 torchbearers will carry the flame leading up to the March 12 start of the Games.

The flame will be taken to Quebec City Thursday, to Toronto on Friday and later to several communities in British Columbia, before the Paralympic cauldron is lit at BC Place in Vancouver, marking the beginning of the 10-day Winter Paralympics.

The relay celebrations precede the start of the first-ever Paralympic Winter Games held in Canada.

The motto of the relay is "Spark Becomes Flame."

About 1,000 athletes and officials from more than 40 countries will take part in five sports as part of the Games, which run from March 12-21 in Vancouver and Whistler.

Amputee Arnold Boldt, the world record holder for the high jump and who won three gold medals at the 1976 Paralympics in Toronto, was the first torchbearer to carry the flame from the steps of Parliament Hill down to the Centennial Flame.

Onstage with him were a group including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, Gary Lunn, the Federal Sports Minister, Mary McNeil, Minister of State for the Olympics, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed, and John Furlong, chief executive officer of Vancouver 2010.

Boldt (pictured), a three-time Paralympian, handed the flame to 15 other torchbearers at the ceremony, including Justine Belair, who was selected as a representative of Canada’s Aboriginal communities.



The final torchbearer was marathon runner Rick Ball, who was selected by Vancouver 2010, and who is a 2012 Paralympic Summer Games hopeful.

“It’s quite the honour and I’m very humbled that my athletic compatriots would want me to represent them,” said Boldt, 52.

"The kids were tremendous and were very pumped for this.

"Everyone is enthusiastic about it and it’s great that Canada can host the Winter Paralympics.

"It will be tremendous for the Paralympic Movement and for Canadians to see this up close.

"There has been a lot of media in the last number of months about this, and people are excited about things like sledge hockey."

CBC TV host Rick Mercer (pictured top) was also one of the 16 Paralympic torchbearers on Parliament Hill.

He said: “It was suggested that they ask me because I had so many Paralympians and Olympic athletes on my TV show over the years.

"So I was flattered to be asked.".

Furlong said Canada came together as a nation during the Olympics in a way that nobody could have ever imagined.

He said: "What we’ve seen over the past days has been astonishing, there are few words left to describe all of what we have seen and felt.

"But we’re at the halfway point of this great adventure and now we’re about to start phase two.

"The Paralympic Movement in this country is very large and grand and Paralympic sport plays right to the human spirit."