The B.C. government is considering 14 recommendations on curbing domestic violence that were made by a coroner's inquest into a horrific murder-suicide case on Vancouver Island.
In 2007, 38-year-old Peter Lee fatally stabbed his young son, his wife, and her mother and father in the island community of Oak Bay. He then turned the knife on himself.
Lee was on bail on charges of attempting to harm his wife in a staged car crash when the murder-suicide occurred.
The inquest's recommendations, released on Friday, include for B.C. to fund regional domestic violence units, a cross-jurisdictional domestic violence unit, and domestic violence education programs for kindergarten to Grade 12.
"I would hope that the deaths of five people in this fashion would motivate the government to do something about this," said Diane Turner of the Ending Violence Association of B.C.
"I think it's critical that the people that have been given the responsibility to deal with these recommendations have an action plan within a month or two."
But though B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed says he's committed to fighting domestic violence, he could not guarantee if his government would implement the inquest's recommendations.
"We will fully analyze the recommendations from this, we'll couple them with what we have been applying so far," Heed said.
"We will determine when and if we can put them in place."
The jury recommended the government provide the funding to accommodate the costs of its recommendations, but Heed would only say some changes can be done within current government structures and extra money may not be required.
Jurors also called for bail reforms to ensure potential abusers are screened by the court system.
The jurors recommended fitting some accused abusers with global positioning system devices to track movements of some accused abusers granted bail, but without a fixed address.
Coroner Jeff Dolan says although the recommendations are not enforceable, the government is usually receptive to inquest findings.
"They do become part of the public record, and there is a very high compliance rate," he said.
The inquest's findings, along with all 14 jury recommendations, is available at the BC Coroners Service website.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber and files from the Canadian Press
