Speaking from exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said François-Philippe Champagne reached out to her just after she arrived from Belarus.

Tens of thousands have been regularly protesting in Minsk and other cities since the vote, demanding that Lukashenko step down.

The Viasna human rights centre said more than 30 demonstrators were detained.

"Canada will always be on your side,'' Francois-Philippe Champagne said after the meeting.

Canada and the United Kingdom together imposed a first round of sanctions last month.

Despite the detentions, protests continued Monday, with the elderly taking to the streets in several Belarusian cities, demanding the president's resignation.

Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, has been rocked by street protests and strikes since authorities announced that veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko had won an Aug. 9 vote by a landslide.

Lukashenko's office said that "the goal of the president was to hear everyone's opinion." Among 11 jailed activists who attended the meeting were several members of the opposition's Coordination Council and Viktor Babariko, the former head of a major Russia-owned bank.

Francois-Philippe Champagne's trip will take him to Greece, Austria, Belgium and Lithuania. He will meet the opposition leader of Belarus and hold talks on the fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The crowd, waving white flags with a red stripe, marched to the beat of drums towards detention centres where political prisoners were believed to be held, according to pictures and videos posted on social media.