The Olympic flame began its journey in the pre-dawn darkness Friday on the steps of Queen's Park in Toronto amid heavy police presence.
Organizers are hoping to avoid the kind of detour that happened Thursday evening when about 100 protesters from several groups blocked its downtown route. Police said at least two people were arrested.
One of the groups involved publishes a website titled no2010.com, where it posted a message about the Olympic torch symbolizing "colonial theft of indigenous land, corporate profit grabbing, ecological destruction, militarization and migrant exploitation."
But as of Friday afternoon, there was no sign of disruption.
Community fundraiser Richard Graves was the city's first torchbearer of the day, chosen for his volunteer work — Graves has run more than 800 marathons, most to raise money for charity.
The Olympic flame passed through the downtown area in front of the CBC Broadcast Centre and the CN Tower, then headed east to the Distillery District and through several Toronto neighbourhoods before heading north.
In Newmarket, onlookers cheered as a woman who was left a paraplegic in a drive-by shooting carried the torch on her wheelchair. Louise Russo was hit in the spine by a stray bullet during a shooting at a Toronto sandwich shop in 2004.
The torch will end the day in Brampton.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
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