Bloke, in French, is a slur like nigger, chink, and so on.
When your grandfather was young, the local catholic church would tell him it is wrong to pursue any higher education, that was for the English. So all the businesses were owned by them. And if you went into a store, the owner would prevent his French speaking employees from speaking to him in French. If they did, he'd tell them to speak white. And depending how old he is, he may have been told to speak white, the language of the British master race (the master race bit got dropped after Hitler ran that expression into the ground but speak white was a common thing until at least the 80s).
I could go on for a long while (actually, I can suggest a good book series that do if you are interested).
Point is, your grandfather had a legitimate beef in the past with people speaking English and discriminating against him based on his language.
It doesn't excuse him now but it gives some context.
I can shed some lights.
Bloke, in French, is a slur like nigger, chink, and so on.
When your grandfather was young, the local catholic church would tell him it is wrong to pursue any higher education, that was for the English. So all the businesses were owned by them. And if you went into a store, the owner would prevent his French speaking employees from speaking to him in French. If they did, he'd tell them to speak white. And depending how old he is, he may have been told to speak white, the language of the British master race (the master race bit got dropped after Hitler ran that expression into the ground but speak white was a common thing until at least the 80s).
I could go on for a long while (actually, I can suggest a good book series that do if you are interested).
Point is, your grandfather had a legitimate beef in the past with people speaking English and discriminating against him based on his language.
It doesn't excuse him now but it gives some context.