Help! Father passed away with no will - Ontario, Canada Law

[jwilkins]

We are in Ontario,Canada.
My father passed away June 13/08 at the age of 54. He is the father of five children - two of which have had nothing to do with him for several years. My sister & I are full-blood from marriage 1. From marriage 2 there is a daughter & son, and from a relationship (no marriage) there is a son. We are all over 18yrs of age.
My father was in a 20 year common-law relationship. He and his girlfriend owned a house jointly. The house went to her which is fine. She was the beneficiary of his RRSPs and life insurance through his employer. He had no other insurance and no will. The mortgage had insurance to the house is paid, as well as any loans & my father's line of credit that they/he had. So she's free and clear of any debt.
My father's wishes were to not have a funeral or a viewing - just cremation right away. While we were ALL very clear on that fact, he did not have it in writing. He passed away at home & his girlfriend found him. She needed to change the image in her head and so she, without consulting any of the children, arranged a viewing (she brought her daughter with her). We did not contest this as we didn't want to cause any problems at this time. She also went to a lawyer without advising any of us in regards to his estate. She mentioned that, why she was there, she's having a will drawn up for her (basically so that us five kids don't interfere with her two daughter's inheritance; house, etc.).
Yesterday, my sister and I sat down to discuss matters with the girlfriend. She explained that because they were not married she does not inherit any of his estate which includes his tools, his 2001 Chev Silverado, his boat, some funds that he was expecting a refund for from Family Responsibility & the government as well as Canada Pension Plan. She took it upon herself to do an estimated value of the truck, boat and tools. I was told that this is illegal and that we would have to hire a professional to make these appraisals.

She then told us that we've also inherited his debt which includes a bank overdraft of over $900 (but less than $1000), the lawyer fee (including her will), and the fee from the funeral home. While we can agree to the cost of the cremation, we cannot justify having to pay for the viewing out of the estate.
Also, the sticker on my father license plate expired on June 23/08. The insurance expires on July 2/08. He received his renewal notice probably a couple of months before and had signed the notice on June 10. His girlfriend wants to continue using the truck until the end of the summer so that she can take some things to the dump & Salvation Army. She said that she was gong to attempt to renew his sticker at the Ministry of Transportation as well as the insurance for a few months and blatantly stated that she "cannot tell them that he is dead". I know this to be illegal. I don't know if she has done this or if she will be successful with this. However, since that truck now belongs to the five of us kids, she has no right to touch it, correct?

We are very concerned about having to pay for the viewing and lawyer fee since we were not consulted or informed in any way until after the fact. It's definitely not about money, but the principal. We were not raised to be money-hungry & materialistic.

What are our rights in regards to this? Also, the two other sibs from the 2nd marriage - we are no longer in contact with them. I have tried to contact my sister through Facebook and My Space over the last week, but she has not replied. None of us have ANY contact information for either sibling. If there is no word from either one of them, what happens in this instance? Is there a time frame? Can the three of us make decisions without them and put there portion of any monies in trust?
NONE of us have the money to hire a lawyer to go to court to appoint a trustee, etc. The youngest is only 19, my sister is a single mother on three young children & on social assistance, and while I live common-law and work full-time, I have my own debt to concentrate on, not to mention our three-year-old child (and my credit isn't that great right now because of my ex-husband).
PLEASE HELP!!!