A Pride symbol vandalised in Canada's 'prettiestlittle town'

It took one night for a Pride rainbow pedestrian crossing on the busiest street of Paris, a small Canadian town just over an hour's drive from Toronto, to be smeared with burnt rubber. Was a rainbow a bridge too far for the town, or is a new era of progressive politics forcing Paris to change its stripes?

Dotted with Carolinian foliage, church spires and cobblestone architecture, Paris wears its unofficial tagline - 'Canada's prettiest little town' - proudly.

It's one of dozens of smaller Canadian communities growing in popularity as people desert big cities during the pandemic.

Nathan Etherington, 39, who spearheads Pride celebrations in Paris, calls the town "literally a microcosm of Canada" - a rural area near urban centres, with a large First Nations reserve nearby.

He was thrilled when the rainbow crossing passed 10-1 before council.

But his elation was short-lived: there have been several reports of vandalism on rainbow crossings elsewhere in Canada.