page_title: CJIL-DT
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: CJIL-DT / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of outside of Miracle Channel building, including the sign
context_page_description: CJIL-DT, virtual and UHF digital channel 17, branded on-air as Miracle Channel, is a Christian religious television station licensed to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The station is owned by The Miracle Channel Association. CJIL-DT's studios are located on 31 Street North in Lethbridge, and its transmitter is located on Highway 25 north of the city.
  Launched in 1996, it was the first over-the-air religious TV station in Canada. CJIL has been carried on cable and satellite providers in other parts of Canada since 2000.
context_section_description: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted a broadcasting licence to Dick and Joan Dewert (also known as Dick and Joan Deweert) on April 4, 1995. It debuted on January 14, 1996 broadcasting in southern Alberta, after Canada's 60-year ban on religious broadcasting was lifted. It expanded nationally on September 11, 2000. CJIL was the Canadian partner of the U.S. religious broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). (The Dewerts had set up an unlicensed relay transmitter for TBN in 1986, which was shut down by the CRTC before CJIL's license was granted.) The station is available globally via satellite and on the Internet.
  In 1999 and 2001, two additional transmitters were approved by the CRTC to be added in Bow Island and Burmis.
  On May 20, 2007, Dick Dewert admitted to an extramarital affair and resigned from the station. Joan Dewert resigned as well. Mervyn Mediwake was installed as the interim CEO. On January 1, 2010, after a series of interim leaders, the board of directors of the Miracle Channel Association hired Leon Fontaine, senior pastor of the Winnipeg-based Springs Church, as permanent CEO.
  On July 8, 2013, TBN announced a partnership with Miracle Channel. As a result, Miracle Channel began airing some of TBN's flagship programs, including Praise the Lord and Behind The Scenes, while TBN's networks will pick up some of Miracle Channel's programs, including Springs Church services, and The Leon Show on The Church Channel. Plans were also announced for Fontaine to be a regular host on Praise the Lord, and for four episodes per year to originate from Canada. The two networks also announced plans to co-produce a new weekly program. The move came weeks following Daystar's announcement of a similar program supply deal with Grace TV, which would soon be rebranded Daystar Canada.
  On September 19, 2017, the channel premiered a daily newscast, Bridge City News, hosted by Hal Roberts.
caption: CJIL-DT's offices in Lethbridge
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