They lived in their Catalina home for 40 years. But it turns out they don't own it

Pauline Diamond gazes out the window of the Catalina home where she lived for almost 40 years, rocking in a chair, remembering the past.

Her children built forts in the nearby forest, went tobogganing down the rolling hills and played near the Atlantic Ocean. 

Now it's time for Pauline and her husband, Randy, to move on. 

But they can't.

"I don't know. I really don't know what's going to happen," Pauline said, shaking her head.

About two years ago, the Diamonds decided to sell the home where they've lived since the early 1980s and move into an accessible apartment. They secured a buyer — family friends looking to move home — and proceeded with a quieting of titles, in order to clear any potential disputes over the land.

That's when the trouble started.

The provincial government claims that, according to its records, Pauline and Randy's home is sitting on Crown land.

According to the government, the lawn where their kids played, the garden where Randy grew vegetables and the house where Pauline raised a family never belonged to the Diamonds.

"We don't know where we stand or where to go to next," Pauline said.

In 1981, Pauline's father bought the parcel of land, splitting it among his three children. Pauline and Randy finished building a home on the land in 1984. The family has the deed for the land, but that isn't enough.

The Diamonds say no one from the provincial government has ever contacted them to tell them there was a problem. They've been paying property taxes to the Town of Catalina — and provided those records to CBC News.

The Diamonds plan to fight the case in court — which will cost thousands of dollars as well as another, more precious resource: time.

"I was diagnosed there three years ago, three and a half years ago — lung and bone cancer," said Pauline, who turned 67 this year.