this study develops and advances an understanding of a population health approach by surveying employees at the public health agency of canada (phac) (ontario region). it was expected that the research would provide valuable information about the current level of knowledge among the employees within an organization that has expressed a specific approach--to practice the population health approach. further, it was to determine if there was a need to develop in-service programs that could inform the employees about the "organization's objective" and how they might apply the population health approach. the survey examined a select cohort of the phac (ontario region) employees. the format of the survey included a pencil and paper self-administered questionnaire which was distributed through the phac's internal lotus notes e-mail system. the questionnaire included ordinal scaled questions, binary (yes/no) questions, open-ended questions and multiple choice items. it was noted that of the twenty five participants of the study, 80% (twenty) either agreed or strongly agreed that people who understand the population health approach are likely to use it in their daily work and twenty one people either agreed or strongly agreed that those who understood the population health approach were likely to share their knowledge with their coworkers. it was concluded that although some employees could identify the twelve key determinants of health and they could define the population health approach similar to the phac, in-service programs should be developed to assist those who do not understand the concept and those who do not use the approach in their work.