Samra Zafar stood in front of a packed banquet hall in Mississauga Friday morning and told the roughly 150 audience members that domestic abuse is not a women’s issue, but a human rights issue.

Samra Zafar faced years of abuse after arriving in Canada as a teenage bride in an arranged marriage, but nothing could stop her from pursuing her dreams of education and freedom.

From victim to survivor, Samra Zafar has escaped a decade of oppression after being forced into an arranged marriage in Canada at the age of 16. Today, she mentors women in the GTA who have recently left behind any form of abuse or crisis and want to move forward in their lives.