A temporary foreign worker says he is worried about his health due to living conditions at one of Nova Scotia's oldest golf resorts. 

Orlando Rosas of Mexico says his cousin, who was also his roommate, contracted pneumonia due to moisture and mould not long after moving into the staff residence at the Keltic Lodge in Ingonish, Cape Breton, in May.

His cousin went to the hospital in Neils Harbour before being sent to the regional hospital in Sydney, where he was given a six-week course of antibiotics and told to rest...

That and occasionally poor quality food in the staff cafeteria forced Rosas to quit his job as a room attendant...

Provincial inspectors arrived at the Keltic Lodge last week, but the department declined to comment, saying an investigation was ongoing...

Rosas also said the employer was supposed to pay for biometrics service at immigration, which is a $240 fee for things like fingerprinting and photographing of temporary foreign workers...

In his case, the company asked him to pay it on arrival in Canada with a promise of being reimbursed later, he said. Rosas said he still hasn't seen the money...

The resort is managed by GolfNorth Properties of Ontario. The lodge's general manager, Michael Young, said he was never told Rosas's cousin got sick from mould, but downplayed the worker's complaints, saying he took immediate action every time a problem came up...

Young said he toured the entire facility with provincial inspectors last week and no other staff made any complaints...

Stacey Gomez, manager of the migrant worker program with No One Is Illegal in Halifax, said the agency regularly gets complaints from temporary foreign workers, receiving 11 new ones last month...

The problem is that labour standards are enforced through a complaints-based system rather than through unannounced inspections, especially where workers are more vulnerable, she said.