The Pan Am Games torch begins its Canadian relay today, kicking off 20,000 kilometres of travel with a ceremony at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre and celebrations in the city’s Distillery District.
The flame, which represents unity between the 41 pan-American countries, has travelled far to get to Toronto. It was officially lit five days ago at a ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
On Saturday afternoon, it will travel by land, air and sea as it arrives in Canada and begins a 41-day journey to communities across the country. In total, 3,000 torch bearers will tour the flame through 130 communities, before returning it to Toronto for the games.
An official arrival ceremony at Toronto’s waterfront will welcome the flame at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
To the background of a soundscape by local musician Andrew Craig and a performance by the Obeah Opera, the flame will arrive in a lantern, carried by Chris Rudge, a member of the Pan Am board of directors. A Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation elder will take the flame and travel with it in a flotilla of canoes, before delivering it to local First Nations chiefs.
From there, torch bearers, including Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, will parade the torch around the city and deliver it at the Distillery District at 5 p.m., where there will be further celebrations.
The Distillery District festivities begin at 4 p.m., and will feature artists such as the Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, The Chimera Project, Dance Migration and Jasmine Denham, who will perform the official song of the Games live for the very first time.
Olympic bronze medallist Deidra Dionne, one of the torchbearers, said the relay is an opportunity for her to celebrate how sports changed her life.
"Sport's given me so much in my life that it’s nice to give back," Dionne said in an interview on CTV's News Channel on Saturday.
Dionne had a ten-year long career in free-style skiing aerials, until she said she had a seizure one night and the medical condition forced her to stop competing.
Now, Dionne is looking forward to continuing to be part of the Pan Am Games as she bears the torch and cheers on other Canadian athletes.
"I'll be nervous because I’ve learned that being on the sidelines cheering for friends is far worse than competing yourself, and I’m sure I’m going to feel Canadian pride as you always do in a major games," she said. "I'll be rooting for all my friends that are out there trying to bring home gold for Canada."
From Toronto, the torch will travel through Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ont., on Sunday. It will go as far east as Halifax, on June 7, and as far west as Richmond, B.C., on June 14, before returning to Toronto in July.
The Pan Am games will run from July 10 to 26 in Toronto. The Parapan Am Games run from August 7 to 15.
