Kanata was originally part of the Township of March, and was first settled by Europeans in the early nineteenth century.  One site dating from this era is Pinhey's Point.

It remained mainly agricultural until the 1960s when it became the site of heavy development. Modern Kanata is largely the creation of Bill Teron, a developer and urban planner who purchased over 3000 acres of rural land and set about building a model community. Unlike other suburbs, Kanata was designed to have a mix of densities and commercial and residential properties. It contained large amounts of open space, and was to be surrounded by a greenbelt.

Kanata has blossomed into a vibrant and energetic community with major shopping centers, arenas, government buildings, hotels and restaurants!

Orleans

The community is thought to have been named by its first postmaster, Théodore Besserer, after his place of birth, the Île d'Orléans near Quebec City. Orléans was an incorporated police village from 1922 to 1974 and was known as St. Joseph d'Orléans.

The community's name Orléans, apparently inspired the name of one its main roads, Jeanne d'Arc Boulevard, which wraps its way around the community. Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) was a 15th Century martyr who led the French army to victory in Orléans, France.

Orléans has continued its steady growth as a suburban community since the late 1970s; its southern and easternmost boundaries continue to grow as more houses and businesses are built. Orléans continues to have a sizeable French-speaking population, although the proportion of francophones has been decreasing in recent years. The community's name is spelled with an acute accent in both English and French in the relevant regulation to the City of Ottawa Act, reflective of the area's francophone heritage.

The traditional centre of the area has been the Place d'Orleans shopping centre, a large shopping centre (with over 175 stores) just off Regional Road 174 (the Queensway), although new business areas on Innes Road at Tenth Line Road and in the vicinity of Trim Road on the eastern end of the area have also been built recently. The country-wide housing boom starting from 2000 has also seen an extremely large amount of housing and residential areas being developed in the eastern Orléans area east of Trim Road and south of Innes Road, such as the community called Avalon which is known for being a neighbourhood of new, spacy and extremely modern homes.

The Elizabeth Manley skating rink at the Orléans Sportsplex is named for Ms. Manley who trained there and who won a Silver Medal in Women's figure skating in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The Ray Friel Centre in the more eastern part of Orleans is home to a public library, a high school, a large indoor swimming pool, 2 exercising facilities, a physiotherapy clinic, a sports store, a restaurant, 2 soccer fields and 3 skating arenas making it one of the main centres for recreation in Orléans.