VICTORIA - British Columbia's chief coroner was flanked by two stern-faced senior government cabinet ministers Friday when he announced a public coroner's inquest into the murder-suicide deaths of five people, including a six-year-old boy.

The shocking stabbing deaths Tuesday of five family members appeared to rattle the Liberal government as details about domestic abuse, criminal violence and the court system involving the man responsible for the deaths became public.

"We as government have been extremely concerned around this particular event,'' said Solicitor General John Les. "We want to get to the bottom of all the issues, find out exactly what happened. I want to know all of the facts that played into this tragedy.''

Attorney General Wally Oppal said there are concerns about everybody involved in the case, which includes justice officials.

"We know that a terrible, terrible tragedy has taken place and that the public deserves answers,'' he said. "Hopefully, we'll come up with some recommendations that will lead to a better system.''

The coroner's service has already said Victoria restaurant owner Peter Lee used a 10-centimetre-long knife to kill his son, wife and two in-laws before taking his own life with the same knife.

The five people were found in a home in Oak Bay, an upscale suburban Victoria community. A veteran police officer said the crime scene was one of the most bloody he's seen in more than 30 years of police work.

Lee, 38, was scheduled to be in court on the day he murdered his family to face concerns he had been violating his bail conditions that required him to stay away from them. He was granted bail after a July 31 incident where he was charged with deliberating trying to hurt his wife when he crashed the family Land Rover into a power pole.

Victoria police opposed Lee's release.

Lee was also facing unlawful confinement charges relating to an incident where a 21-year-old Victoria man said Lee took him to a beach and forced him to smash his own toe with a boulder.

A former employee at Lee's downtown Victoria Korean restaurant was suing Lee in civil court for more than $25,000, saying he cut her hand with a knife and in a second violent incident, physically assaulted her at the restaurant.

The restaurant's former head chef was also suing Lee for about $25,000 in unpaid wages.

Court transcripts reveal that Lee's bail supervisor had raised concerns that Lee was violating his bail conditions prohibiting from contact with his wife.

The Opposition New Democrats called on the government to launch an independent inquiry into the deaths, saying they raise strong issues about domestic abuse, the court system's treatment of offenders and child protection.

Oppal said inquiries can quickly become unwieldy while inquests can be held quickly and they stick to the facts.

Chief coroner Terry Smith said he has yet to set a date for the inquest or appoint a coroner.

"The questions will be to ensure that we look at all of the factors that led up to and surround this tragedy,'' he said. "This whole matter is a real tragedy and we want to know all of the facts.''

The speed with which Smith called the inquest is in stark contrast to events in the past two years that led to harsh criticism of the coroner's department about reviews of the deaths of children in British Columbia.

Incomplete files on more than 700 cases of dead children were found in boxes in a Victoria warehouse.

The coroner's service was accused of not completing the death reviews while the government admitted its cost-cutting led to lax policies in child protection.

After a review, the government appointed former Saskatchewan judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond as the province's independent children's representative.

Dead in the Oak Bay stabbings are: Christian Lee, 6; Sunny Park, 33, Kum Lea Chun, 59 and Moon Kyu Park, 66.

No date has been set for the inquest, which involves a five-person jury that publicly hears evidence from witnesses in order to determine the facts surrounding a death.