A Dartmouth business association has cancelled a planned lecture about sexual harassment in the workplace after public backlash on social media, with many objecting to what seemed like a mixed message.

It was supposed to be a talk on how to handle allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace, but the comments on the Greater Burnside Business Association Facebook page say the way in which the event was marketed was tone deaf.

The original post promoting the event said that, with the attention given to the “Me Too” movement, workplaces have become “hyper sensitive to all forms of harassment, bullying and disrespectful behavior." It went on to say that "this has created an environment where many leaders are afraid to speak to their employees." Participants were also told that they would be talking about "the differences between harassment and managing" their workforce.

“Training and talking about this is absolutely important, but I think they completely missed the mark when they're talking about employers being afraid,” said Sherri Bain, the founder of Women in Business Halifax. “There's no reason to be afraid. No one needs to be afraid that's behaving appropriately.”

Bain, who founded Women in Business Halifax 10 years ago, says the post implied that leaders should learn to protect themselves from harassment claims.

“Forty-three per cent of women experience sexual harassment in the workplace, so that's what we should be talking about,” Bain said. “Not about the potential for a boss or a leader to be falsely accused.”

On Sunday morning, the business association updated the post, saying that “workplaces need to become more sensitive” and “this has created an environment where staff and management need to be educated on how to speak to their employees.”

Later, the business association deleted the Facebook post altogether, along with the critical comments.

Now, it says it has decided to cancel the event in light of the reaction.

The Greater Burnside Business Association says it was not its intention to minimize the topic of harassment in the workplace, but instead to get leaders to understand their responsibilities in a safe workplace and to investigate every situation.

With files from Emily Baron Cadloff.