A decorated Canadian Armed Forces Master Warrant Officer is taking the federal government and American gunmaker SIG Sauer to court, alleging that Ottawa knowingly issued a defective handgun that has now left at least one soldier with a career-ending injury.
Master Warrant Officer Jamie Deslaurier, a veteran military police officer and weapons instructor, filed the lawsuit this week in Federal Court. He claims his issued C-22 pistol – the Canadian military’s version of the controversial SIG Sauer P320 – discharged while still holstered and with no one touching the trigger. The accidental shot struck him in the foot during routine training at CFB Borden on April 16, 2024, causing serious injury that has effectively ended his military career.
Deslaurier is seeking $3 million in damages from the Government of Canada and $4 million from SIG Sauer, arguing the pistol is inherently unsafe and that both parties failed in their duty to protect service members.
Known Risks, Yet Ottawa Signed the Cheque Anyway
The lawsuit shines a harsh light on a procurement decision that critics say put soldiers at unnecessary risk.
The Department of National Defence awarded the $3.2-million (USD) contract for the C-22 in October 2022, with deliveries beginning in mid-2023 and full rollout completed by March 2024. Roughly 16,500 full-size C-22s and 3,200 compact C-24s were purchased to replace the aging Browning Hi-Power that had been in service since 1944.
But the red flags were impossible to miss:
2017 onward: The SIG Sauer P320 platform faced repeated complaints and lawsuits in the United States for “uncommanded discharges” – including incidents where the gun allegedly fired inside a holster. SIG Sauer’s own 2017 internal analysis flagged a high risk of unintentional firing from drops, bumps, or vibrations. Multiple U.S. law enforcement officers and civilians reported similar holstered discharges. By 2022, more than 125 such incidents had been documented in some filings.
November 2020: A Joint Task Force 2 (JTF-2) special-forces operator was wounded in the leg when his P320-style pistol discharged while holstered during training in Ottawa. Special Operations Command temporarily pulled the weapons, investigated, and ultimately cleared the pistol itself – blaming an “improper holster” and a foreign object depressing the trigger. The guns were later returned to storage pending further review.
Despite the domestic 2020 incident and the mounting U.S. litigation, DND pressed ahead with the full contract in 2022. The government described the procurement as “highly competitive” and insisted the C-22 met rigorous safety, reliability, and accuracy standards.
Government Denial: “No Incidents” – Even After Soldiers Are Shot
What makes the Deslaurier lawsuit especially damning is the Department of National Defence’s repeated public insistence that the C-22 is safe – and that there have been no misfires or injuries during the Canadian rollout.
As recently as July 2025, following a U.S. Air Force fatality linked to a similar M18 pistol, DND spokesperson Kened Sadiku told media:
“The CAF have not put any restrictions on the use of the C22 or C24 pistols at this time… It would be premature to react to the known functioning of the weapon based on an uninvestigated and unsubstantiated incident.”
Sadiku added that investigations typically point to “human error” or training deficiencies rather than weapon defects, and that the CAF had seen “no incidents of misfires” since the pistol’s mass introduction.
Yet Deslaurier’s April 2024 injury occurred after the weapons were widely issued to regular forces. The lawsuit directly challenges that narrative, accusing the government of knowing – or should have known – about the P320’s documented safety issues long before signing the contract.
SIG Sauer has consistently denied that the pistol is defective, attributing most incidents to user error, improper holsters, or external factors. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new Canadian lawsuit.
Soldiers Pay the Price
Deslaurier is not the first Canadian to be wounded by a holstered discharge of this platform, but his case is the first public lawsuit from the regular forces era. The 2020 JTF-2 incident was downplayed as an isolated holster issue. Now, with a senior military police instructor – someone trained to the highest standards – alleging the exact same failure, questions about systemic denial are impossible to ignore.
Wiretap Media has previously reported on the P320/C-22’s troubled history. The pattern is clear: warnings ignored, soldiers injured, and accountability deferred.
As the lawsuit proceeds, it will force Ottawa to answer a simple but devastating question: Why did the government issue a handgun with a documented track record of unintentional discharges to thousands of Canadian troops – knowing full well the risks?
The Department of National Defence has so far declined further comment on the Deslaurier case.