I can only respond to one part of your question, your unease about being asked about Canada, like when and how often you go there. In your explanation, you wrote this:

I don't like the direction that my homeland is going in culturally and politically.

I'm in a similar situation regarding my former home, East Germany. (In my case it is the rising anti foreigner and anti semitic sentiment.)

In this situation I found that honesty worked best for me. "I don't particular like my former home because of >political details<." is something most people can understand and even admire.

Sometimes people ask me what I think of >latest opinion poll over there<, half expecting me to defend it, because that's where I am from. I then generally remind them that I live where I live now, voluntarily, and exactly for those reasons.

I can only respond to one part of your question, your unease about being asked about Canada, like when and how often you go there. In your explanation, you wrote this:

I don't like the direction that my homeland is going in culturally and politically.

I'm in a similar situation regarding my former home, East Germany. (In my case it is the rising anti foreigner and anti semitic sentiment.)

In this situation I found that honesty worked best for me. "I don't particular like my former home because of >political details<." is something most people can understand and even admire.

Sometimes people ask me what I think of >latest opinion poll over there<, half expecting me to defend it, because that's where I am from. I then generally remind them that I voluntarily live where I live now, and exactly for those reasons.