Canadian soldier sues SIG Sauer for alleged P320 uncommanded discharge
On Apr. 16, 2026, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that a Canadian military service member is suing both the federal government of Canada and SIG Sauer, Inc. after being wounded by an uncommanded discharge from his C22 pistol, a variant of the SIG Sauer P320.
The C22 was adopted by the Canadian military to replace the Browning Hi-Power in 2022. The alleged incident took place on Apr. 16, 2024.
Master Warrant Officer Jamie Deslaurier is a career military police officer and weapons instructor with the Armed Forces of Canada. While at a military training range in Borden, Ontario, Deslaurier alleges that his issued C22 discharged while still in its holster. The reportedly uncommanded discharge wounded him in his foot.
“I was extremely angry with the fact that we procured this weapon and it’s been employed in the Canadian Forces,” Deslaurier told CBC. He further noted that many troops in his unit were just happy to get new guns. The Hi-Power that the P320 replaced was adopted during World War II.
Deslaurier and his lawyer, Lane Foster, report that they had to fight to obtain the internal investigation into the incident. Foster told CBC that the weapons technicians who wrote the report gave a best estimate that the pistol’s discharge was due to user error. However, this “best estimate” has some big issues.
“They were unable to conclusively determine what happened because the scene was not properly preserved and the gun was not produced to them for a lengthy period of time afterwards,” Foster said to CBC. “Jamie was known to be the best marksman of the group and was the most skilled with weapons handling. Where this has happened, it’s not with people who are just learning to use guns. It’s with people who are experienced law enforcement officers or military officers and it continues to occur with this specific gun.”
In 2020, a Canadian JTF-2 special forces soldier experienced an accidental discharge of a C22 pistol and was wounded in the leg. The military investigation into the incident concluded that a modified holster, originally designed for the SIG Sauer P226, was to blame.
An investigation into the uncommanded discharge of a Marine Corps M18 (a compact U.S. military variant of the P320) in a dedicated P320 holster recommended an engineering review of the weapon.
Deslaurier’s lawsuit against the government, seeking damages of $3 million, accuses the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service of removing evidence from the scene of the incident and mishandling the matter to the extent that the weapons technicians were unable to do their jobs. The lawsuit against SIG, seeking damages of $4 million, claims that the P320 is defective.
“We think that SIG Sauer needs to take some responsibility for what’s happening instead of continuing to point towards user error,” Foster told CBC. “Whether that is a recall or a change with a gun, a modification, something needs to happen there.”
In 2024, two separate lawsuits against SIG Sauer resulted in juries awarding damages of $2.35 million and $11 million to plaintiffs who alleged that their P320s went off without them pulling the trigger.
At the time of publication, SIG Sauer did not respond to a request for comment on Deslaurier’s lawsuit. However, the company has stated many times in the past that “The P320 CANNOT, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull—that is a fact. The allegations against the P320 are nothing more than individuals seeking to profit or avoid personal responsibility.”
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