What visa/work permit do I need as self-funded foreign intern in a research lab ?

[AlexFromFrance]

Hello everyone,

I'm a French graduate student and I have an offer to be an intern in a physics lab in Vancouver during 9 months. This internship is part of the degree I'm completing in France. The institution I will work in is a public non-profit research facility. I have a French scholarship covering all my needs (~2000CAD/month) and I won't be paid by the institution offering the internship. My problem is that I can not find out what type of work permit I need. Here is what I understood so far during my searches :

- I need a work permit even if I'm not paid
- There are different kinds of work permit, I can apply to IEC - Young professionals OR a "normal" work permit in my situation (provided the laboratory gives me an official job offer)

Is that correct ? What's the best option ?

I also found out that self-funded researchers were exempted of work permit, does this apply to me ?

Thanks in advance for your anwers,

Alexandre